SOUND CHECK.

FATTY KOO: ``House of Fatty Koo'' (Columbia) - Three stars

Great name, and just wait until you hear the album. You'll want to ``Shake,'' ``Bounce'' and ``Bounce (Bounce)'' with these six young stars of BET's unscripted ``Blowin' Up! Fatty Koo.'' But don't get the wrong idea. All but one of the Koo, ages 15 to 20, met each other in Columbus, Ohio, long before the show, on board the John Lennon Educational Tour Bus, where they wrote and recorded together.

The final piece of the puzzle joined later, bringing a soulful helping of gospel, r&b and hip-hop to add to an appealing mix of funk flavors (``Fatty Koo''), soaring operatic vocals (``H.O.F.K.'') and deep house grooves (``Tight'').

Think Destiny's Child, Backstreet Boys and Usher all rolled into one. Of course, not everything here is Fatty phat - ``Chills'' is a track far too icy for a group destined to be hot.

- Sandra Barrera

CHICAGO BLUES REUNION: ``Buried Alive in the Blues'' (Out the Box) - Two stars

While well-meaning, this project lacks the poignancy and sheer musicality of the similarly intentioned Motown/Funk Brothers reunion. The problem here is the genre's brightest blue lights - Muddy Waters, Otis Spann, Paul Butterfield, Mike Bloomfield and Howlin' Wolf, among them - were extinguished long ago. And this album's Barry Goldberg, Nick Gravenites, Harvey Mandel, Tracy Nelson and Corky Siegel are generally considered third tier by aficionados.

So, give the CD component a miss, but seek out the accompanying DVD, which contains a handful of mind-blowing moments, including previously unseen color footage of Bloomfield playing with Waters, the Butterfield band hanging out with a tender-looking Bob Dylan backstage at the 1965 Newport Folk Festival, Jimi Hendrix among the audience at the 1967 Monterey Pop Festival, and crowd scenes from historic South Side blues joints.

Unfortunately, this good stuff is interspersed with various old white guys droning on endlessly and lackluster concert footage of the reunion geezers. The band, incidentally, appears Thursday in a free show at Santa Monica Pier.

- Fred Shuster

CAROLE KING: ``The Living Room Tour'' (Concord) - Three and one half stars

King hit the road last year, playing in intimate settings with minimal accompaniment. This twin-disc set documents those dates, taking in 21 titles she wrote or co-wrote, ranging from Brill Building hits (covered in a jaw-dropping medley) to ``Tapestry'' winners, and a couple of recent additions. The revelation here for anyone who hasn't heard King in a couple of decades is a rougher and more expressive voice that makes old faves like ``So Far Away'' and ``It's Too Late'' seem new. Like the audience, you'll be singing along.

- Glenn Whipp

WILLIE NELSON: ``Countryman'' (Lost Highway) - Two and one half stars

Neither fish nor Texas prairie chicken, Nelson's 10-years-in-the-making reggae album feels gimmicky. The mix of Jamaican rhythms and Nelson's signature vocals, steel drums with pedal steel and Mickey Raphael's lonesome harmonica with echoing dub effects is only mildly interesting.

Most of the cuts are old Nelson tunes; the difference is split on a pair of Jimmy Cliff covers (``The Harder They Come'' intriguingly mellowed; ``Sitting in Limbo'' too guileless for an old voice); and the great Toots Hibbert dueting on Johnny and June Cash's ``I'm a Worried Man.'' Cover art of a lush marijuana leaf indicates priorities - and target audience.

- Bob Strauss

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(1) no caption (Fatty Koo)

Ethan Miller/Getty Images Entertainment

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