SOUND CHECK.

Mariah Carey/``Glitter'' (Virgin)

To borrow from that brilliant cultural critic R. Crumb, Carey maintains a high standard of standardness. Her much ballyhooed vocal powers, stagecraft and transparently contrived girl-next-door image seem simply average at best, sprinkled with diamond dust but empty at their money-spinning core.

In this musical tie-in with her first movie, Carey kicks it hip-hop style, which means you get every cliche of a very tired pop genre. The aim is distinctive urban soul, but even devotees of this ubiquitous sound might have a hard time distinguishing tracks like ``Loverboy'' (with rappers Da Brat, Ludacris and others) and ``Don't Stop (Funkin' 4 Jamaica)'' (with a mic-chewing Mystikal) from similar party tunes making the rounds.

To be fair, Carey does a convincing job cooing her way through a solid remake of the '80s disco hit, ``Last Night a DJ Saved My Life,'' but again it's the gritty hired hands that give the tune its spark.

Not wishing to alienate the masses that snap up Carey records for her signature squeal, ``Glitter'' is evenly packed with the usual ballads by-the-numbers, painfully anonymous syrup such as ``Lead the Way,'' ``Never Too Far'' and ``Reflections.''

Someday, Carey's musical ship will come in. In the meantime, this Mariah is a wind that just keeps on blowing. One and one half stars

- Fred Shuster

Diana Krall/``The Look of Love'' (Verve)

In this lush, cinematic set of ballads and bossa nova tunes, Krall doesn't even try to be contemporary. The newest song here is Burt Bacharach's '60s title track.

Still, there's something modern in Krall's sultry vocals, sense of humor and witty piano work. In fact, on ``The Look of Love,'' Krall has never sounded more timely.

Adding to a sophisticated late-night feel are throbbing string arrangements by frequent Sinatra collaborator Claus Ogerman, whose stylistic touches are evident on such standouts as ``Dancing in the Dark,'' ``Love Letters'' and a Spanish-language version of ``Besame Mucho.'' Three stars

- F.S.

Mary J. Blige/``No More Drama'' (MCA)

Hip-hop is a producer's art and nobody knows it better than Blige, who calls on nearly a dozen knob-twiddlers here.

For once, though, this schizophrenic approach pays off with an album that against all odds seems cohesive, held together by Blige's appealingly bluesy vocals and above-average material.

Standouts include the Dr. Dre-produced ``Family Affair'' (in which Blige coins new street slang - ``holleration''), the old-school ``Steal Away,'' the Missy Elliott collaboration ``Never Been'' and the title track, which cheekily samples the theme from TV's ``The Young and the Restless.''

One of the year's best. Three and one half stars

- F.S.

Bob Dylan / Love and Theft (Columbia)

On his Oscar-winning song, ``Things Have Changed,'' Bob Dylan sang ``People are crazy and times have changed.'' So what better way to get some perspective than to step away from the modern noise, look back in time and record an album of songs steeped in the history of American music.

That's precisely what Dylan has done with his 43rd album, ``Love and Theft,'' which surveys more than a century of musical styles and revitalizes them in the process. Listeners charmed by the sweet bluegrass of ``O Brother Where Art Thou'' will find much to appreciate here, provided the idea of listening to Dylan rasp his way through several 1940s-style jazz ballads (paging Leon Redbone) doesn't prove too disconcerting.

Lyrically, ``Love and Theft'' often still finds Dylan in a cranky mood, but you wouldn't know it from listening to jaunty, blues-based melodies of the songs. Gone is the weariness that hung heavily on his last album, ``Time Out of Mind.'' Here Dylan exhorts listeners to ``lift up their glasses and sing'' and later, on ``Moonlight,'' shyly asking, ``Won't you meet me out in the moonlight alone?'' With its sweet violin line, ``Moonlight'' is one of several songs that sounds as if it belongs in a Woody Allen movie.

Not that Dylan has gone completely soft. On the down-and-dirty ``Highwater (For Charlie Patton), he repeatedly, ominously warns that there's ``highwater everywhere.'' Even in the lilting ``Bye and Bye,'' Dylan recognizes that ``for me the future is already a thing of the past.'' He's not done in by the realization, though, later adding in the same song: ``Well I'm sitting on my watch so I can be on time/I'm singing love's praises with sugar-coated rhyme.'' Cornball, yes; but immensely affecting, as is just about everything on this remarkable album. Four stars

- Glenn Whipp

CAPTION(S):

4 photos

Photo:

(1) no caption (Mariah Carey)

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