SOUND CHECK.

Mike Ness/``Cheating at Solitaire'' (Time Bomb)

His guitar is decorated with the autographs of Buck Owens and Johnny Cash. He's got tats from head to toe and wears a black cowboy hat. And he can hardly write (or sing) a decent melody to save his life. The first solo album by Ness, leader of Social Distortion, is just what you'd expect from the singer of a mildly successful punk band that secretly wanted to be the Blasters.

All the one-dimensional soundand fury of Social D. is funneled into roots-rock, country, r&b-tinged material that passes by without causing too much trouble or notice. Along with Ness' spate of originals are covers of Dylan and Hank Williams (a convincing ``You Win Again''), while old pal Bruce Springsteen drops by to add backup vocals and guitar to ``Misery Loves Company.'' At least ``Cheating at Solitaire'' isn't as bad as Joe Strummer's album. Two stars

- Fred Shuster

Ben Folds Five/``The Unauthorized Biography of Reinhold Messner'' (550 Music)

For anyone who loved ``One Angry Dwarf and 200 Solemn Faces,'' ``Battle of Who Could Care Less'' and the other charmers on the Five's refreshing 1997 disc ``Whatever and Ever Amen,'' turn back now. The new album reveals a band that's either lost its sense of humor, run out of steam or doesn't have anything more to say. Or all of the above. We eagerly slapped the disc on, expecting the skewered lyrics and pleasingly twisted Broadway of the previous effort. Instead, we got few catchy melodies, overly serious lyrical concerns and that most tired of '90s recording gambits, a voice-mail message.

Why did ``Reinhold Messner'' turn out so badly? Probably because Folds wrote the majority of it in the studio after spending the past four years on the road. One and one half stars

- F.S.

Esa-Pekka Salonen and the Los Angeles Philharmonic/``Sensemaya: The Music of Silvestre Revueltas'' (Sony Classical)

Modernism came relatively late to Mexico. But when it arrived, it arrived with a vengeance, as can be gleaned from the L.A. Philharmonic's coolly measured, fitfully volcanic new recording of music by Revueltas.

A kind of Mexican Stravinsky by way of Charles Ives, Revueltas (1899-1940) had his life and career cut tragically short by alcohol and personal demons. Here, his explosive, enigmatic sensibility receives its full due. The disc opens with ``Sensemaya'' (1938), a marvelously bombastic synthesis of polyrhythmic Afro-Cuban cult music and lush, nationalistic orchestral textures.

Next up, ``8 x radio'' (``Ocho por radio'') bends mariachi trumpets and mestizo folk-tune fragments into a jaggedly sardonic four-minute chamber work. ``La Noche de los Mayas,'' written for a 1939 film of the same name, weaves stately processions of horns and strings together with brutal percussion into a rich sonic tapestry that evokes the mystery and might of an ancient empire.

The remaining works - ``Homenaje a Federico Garcia Lorca,'' ``Ventanas for Large Orchestra,'' ``First Little Serious Piece'' and ``Second Little Serious Piece'' - are equally well-performed by Salonen and company.

Imagine if Diego Rivera had composed music instead of murals, and you'll begin to get a feel for this sumptuous disc and its worthy honoree. Three and one half stars

- Reed Johnson

Duke Ellington/``Such Sweet Thunder''

``Black, Brown & Beige''

``Anatomy of a Murder''

``First Time! The Count Meets Duke'' (Columbia Legacy)

Ellington had three vital periods during his time with Columbia. These four albums, taken from his last years with the label (1956-62), have been lovingly reissued with previously unheard bonus tracks and alternate takes along with beautifully illustrated and informative 36-page booklets. For anyone who loves Ellington or is wondering what all this centennial hubbub is about, they are well worth picking up.

``Such Sweet Thunder'' (Four stars) is Ellington's grand take on Shakespeare, and the album gives his celebrated sidemen - notably trumpeter Cat Anderson and sax men Johnny Hodges and Paul Gonsalves - inspired opportunities to transform the rhythm of the Bard's writings into music. It's a fascinating record of one giant paying tribute to (and expanding upon) another.

``Black, Brown & Beige'' (Three and one half stars), Ellington's musical representation of the black experience in America, premiered at Carnegie Hall in 1943 to disappointing reviews from critics who wanted him to stick to punchy, four-minute songs instead of long-form statements. Ellington occasionally reworked it in the intervening years and re-recorded it in 1958 (the sessions that make up this album). Star saxophonist Hodges was absent; in his stead, Ellington employed gospel singer Mahalia Jackson with stunning results. Jackson's rendition of ``Come Sunday'' has become a standard, and her closing rendition of the 23rd Psalm is spare and inspired.

``Anatomy of a Murder'' (Three and one half stars) is the only soundtrack Ellington composed leading his own orchestra. His writing fit the 1959 Otto Preminger courtroom drama perfectly, and the reissue's bonus tracks add insight into his working methods and composition techniques. This is a soundtrack worthy of the film, which is saying a lot, since the movie might just be the greatest courtroom picture in history.

``The Count Meets the Duke'' (Four stars), the historic meeting of the two competing orchestras, works better than you might expect due to careful planning and mutual admiration. The fact that Ellington's band is heard on the right channel with Basie's on the left makes for absorbing listening as the two great orchestras hurtle through their respective themes (``Take the `A' Train,'' ``Jumpin' at the Woodside'') and the wonderful, aptly titled ``Battle Royal.''

- Glenn Whipp

Ian Tyson/``Lost Herd'' (Vanguard)

Canadian cowboy Ian Tyson takes a long time between albums - and the last one, ``All the Good 'Uns,'' was a greatest-hits compilation. So large expectations greet ``Lost Herd,'' his first all-new collection in five years.

But this most lyrical of western songwriters gets off to a wobbly start as he tries to work soft pop and smooth jazz elements into the early cuts. While you wouldn't want to begrudge the dedicated traditionalist some new creative range, when saxes bubble up on ``Summer's Gone'' and the title tune, you worry that Tyson's hung up his boots at the Kenny G Dude Ranch.

By midalbum, though, he's firmly back in the saddle, herding a pack of good 'uns. Marked by some fine saloon piano and lots of elegant strumming, a passion for good horseflesh and the contracting but ever-inspiring Wide Lonesome runs through such instant classics as ``Roll on Owyhee'' and ``La Primera.'' The latter is an ode to Spanish mustangs from a horse's point of view; potentially hokey, it comes off majestically. That's the kind of authentic risk this cowpoke should stick to. Three stars

- Bob Strauss

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5 Photos

Photo: (1) no caption (Ben Folds Five)

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