SOUND CHECK.

Chris Rock/``Bigger & Blacker'' (DreamWorks)

Comedy records are usually good for a single spin before they're passed to a friend. The widely popular Rock tries to give his third album, which shares its title and some material with his recent HBO special, some shelf life by placing his biting urban approach in a hip-hop context. The often entertaining results include straight stand-up, sketches and parody songs with cameos from various musical types such as Ice Cube, Biz Markie and Gerald Levert. With rap producer Prince Paul, Rock retools the Rolling Stones' ``Brown Sugar'' while successfully adding his own spin to the recent Baz Luhrmann hit ``Everybody's Free (To Wear Sunscreen).'' But the selling point is when Rock takes the gloves off and lands a few well-placed blows on the topics of race, relationships and even Social Security (``Black people should get Social Security at 29. Black people don't live that long - hypertension, high blood pressure, NYPD.'') Three stars

- Fred Shuster

Benny Green/``These Are Soulful Days'' (Blue Note)

Pianist Green helps Blue Note celebrate its 60th anniversary with this appealing album of songs made famous by the label's artists. The selections are superb - two from Horace Silver (``Virgo,'' ``Come on Home'') and single selections from masters such as Joe Henderson (``Punjab'') and Lee Morgan (``Hocus-Pocus''). Green often takes on rhythmic support duties, allowing former band mate Russell Malone to shine on guitar. Shine he does - ``Come on Home'' features what may be his most exciting playing to date. Christian McBride fills out the trio, anchoring the grooves with his bright bass playing. This is a joyful session that begs for repeated playings. Three and one half stars

- Glenn Whipp

Martha Argerich/``Chopin: Piano Works: The Legendary 1965 Recording'' (EMI) and ``Prokofiev, Liszt, Bartok'' (EMI)

These splendid live recordings - the first from 1965, the second from a 1998 concert at Saratoga Performing Arts Center - are more than a showcase for Argerich's volcanic power and technical exactitude, though they most certainly are that. The Argentine pianist's unbridled joy seems etched in every groove of Chopin's Polonaises and Mazurkas; like an expert, single-minded marathoner, she holds back just enough juice to finish these melodic endurance tests with a powerful kick. Four stars

Her duo with Nelson Freire on Liszt's single-movement ``Concerto pathetique'' shows Argerich's equally formidable tag-team skills, as the two pianists hammer their way through the harmonic thickets. Sandwiched between thoughtful, probing performances of Prokofiev's jaggedly modernist ``Quintet, Op. 39'' and Bartok's aggressively ethnic ``Contrasts'' for piano, violin and clarinet, Liszt's pushy virtuosity shows its true 20th-century colors. Three and one half stars

- Reed Johnson

Spain/``She Haunts My Dreams'' (Restless)

The multi-layered sound of Spain is unique even before Josh Haden's deep blue voice spreads across a track. Although plainly influenced by the Velvet Underground, Mazzy Star and the Tindersticks, the trio touches a hard-to-reach nerve with its wistful delivery and melancholic mood. Bolstered by such quietly powerful cuts as ``Every Time I Try'' and ``Nobody Has to Know,'' Spain's marvelous sophomore set seeps under the skin almost before you realize it. Three and one half stars

- F.S.

Paris Combo/``Paris Combo'' (Tinder)

Between the resurgence of interest in weird French pop geniuses like Serge Gainsbourg and the rise of Francophile artists Pink Martini and April March, it's been a good time to sing with a beret and a funny accent. Paris Combo, though, is the real thing - French folks singing a croissant-fueled take on various Europop currents of the past few decades. The more swinging stuff, with muted trumpet, sounds like a French-fried Squirrel Nut Zippers, while other songs pull in the gypsy-jazz influences of Django Reinhardt, cabaret and even the occasional film noir soundtrack. Fun and entertaining enough, but may remind some American tastebuds of escargots. Two and one half stars

- David Bloom

Alexander ``Skip'' Spence/``Oar'' (Sundazed)

Various/``More Oar: A Tribute to the Skip Spence Album'' (Birdman)

The recently unearthed ``Oar'' was the visionary - and very strange - solo work of Skip Spence's final days as part of the seminal San Francisco band Moby Grape. This definitive reissue contains the initially overlooked album's dozen tracks plus 10 bonus numbers, including five mostly so-so song fragments seldom heard. The often sad, disturbing music here, produced and performed by Spence immediately following a six-month stay in a psychiatric ward 31 years ago, has earned legendary status among collectors due to its naked emotional clarity and jarring weirdness. A twisted lo-fi masterpiece, ``Oar'' often sounds like something excavated while bizarre standouts like ``Grey/Afro,'' ``Cripple Creek'' and ``War in Peace'' sneak up on the listener with lasting power. Three and one half stars

The tribute album ``More Oar'' accomplishes something rare. Instead of asking for note-for-note remakes, the inventive producer Bill Bentley had longtime fans of the late Spence's album, including Beck, Peter Buck, Robert Plant, Mark Lanegan, Alejandro Escovedo, Robyn Hitchcock and Greg Dulli, interpret the material, which is sequenced in the same order as the original disc. Played side-by-side, ``Oar'' and ``More Oar'' make for a solid, thought-provoking but always entertaining experience. Three stars

- F.S.

The Verve Pipe/``The Verve Pipe'' (RCA)

Chicago's Verve Pipe emerged from the ether three years ago to score hits with oddly affecting songs such as ``The Freshmen,'' ``Photograph'' and ``Cup of Tea.'' The fine self-titled new disc, due Tuesday, continues the yearning yet appealing themes of the quintet's earlier work, put across by Brian Vander Ark's distinctive vocals and Donny Brown's hard-hitting percussion. If it's instant pop gratification you're after, songs such as ``Hero,'' ``Headlines'' and ``She Has Faces'' deliver, while other tracks provide food for thought. Three stars

- F.S.

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8 Photos

Photo: (1) no caption (Chris Rock)

(2--8) no caption (CD covers)