SOUND CHECK.

ROB THOMAS: ``...Something to Be'' (Melisma/Atlantic) - Three stars

Any singer who fronts a top-selling pop band will eventually feel the pressure to make a solo album. In his debut, Thomas, who hit the big time with matchbox twenty and picked up a trio of golden gramophones for the Santana collaboration ``Smooth,'' wisely steers clear of the matchbox formula and instead parks in Justin Timberlake dance-pop territory - with good results.

The impeccably crafted ``... Something to Be'' mixes genres enjoyably. Rock, Latin, funk, soul and r&b are covered with gleaming precision, and Thomas, who wrote most of the dozen tracks, sings with utter conviction. With or without a matchbox, this guy can light up a tune.

The double-sided DualDisc release, which offers a DVD side with documentary footage, kicks off appealingly with a bunch of memorable melodies - a horn-laden ``This Is How a Heart Breaks,'' the funky rocker ``Lonely No More,'' the winning ballad ``Ever the Same'' and a bluesy ``I Am an Illusion,'' among them.

``... Something to Be'' has something for everyone.

- Fred Shuster

IAN TYSON: ``Songs From the Gravel Road'' (Vanguard) - Three stars

On his first studio album in six years, Canada's greatest cowboy composer is sounding a little uncomfortable in the saddle. The move toward smooth jazz that sounded just so wrong on 1999's ``Lost Herd'' is now an avenue of artistic growth, but few of this new collection's songs boast the novelistic specificity or haunting poetry of his best Western tunes (``Summer Wages,'' ``M.C. Horses,'' scads more). Still, apart from some Muzak-y love songs, there's a nice assortment of pastoral appreciation and range-life ditties here, and a singing saddle story to boot. I liked the two raucous, rough-hewn live cuts at the end of the album best, though. No horns; so sue me.

- Bob Strauss

TORD GUSTAVSEN TRIO: ``The Ground'' (ECM) - Three and one half stars

Jazz pianist Gustavsen's latest hit No. 1 on the pop charts in his home country of Norway, which says as much about Norway as it does the beautiful music on this sophomore effort. Gustavsen plays slow, meditative melodies that lend themselves to late-night hours and moments of quiet introspection. (He would have been a perfect accomplice for Sinatra's bleak, broke-my-heart concept albums like ``Only the Lonely.'') The music may be spare, but it packs an emotional wallop. Bassist Harald Johnsen and drummer Jarle Vespestad provide sensitive accompaniment to Gustavsen's minimalist playing, creating music to get you through the long nights - which can be very long indeed in his homeland. (The trio performs Tuesday at the Jazz Bakery.)

- Glenn Whipp

DIANE SCHUUR: ``Schuur Fire'' (Concord Picante) - Two and one half stars

Tacoma, Wash., native Diane Schuur has one of the best voices in jazz, and after adding Brazilian guitar legend Oscar Castro-Neves as producer, the Caribbean Jazz Project as backing band and a melange of show tunes along with pop hits from the '60s to the '80s, what you get is ... a bit of a train wreck. One of the few singers who can wrap her perfect pitch around a jazz standard with all the power and presence of Ella Fitzgerald, Schuur doesn't miss a vocal step. With even Castro-Neves' classical guitar mostly fading into the background, the music is a bit anonymous, excepting the fine vibes and marimba work of Dave Samuels and the fluegelhorn solos of Diego Urcola. What does work - and like gangbusters - is Schuur's rendition of ``Ordinary World'' (yes, the Duran Duran hit). Sigmund Romberg and Oscar Hammerstein II's ``Lover Come Back to Me'' also thrives in this musical environment, but Cole Porter's ``So in Love'' and Stevie Wonder's ``As'' don't. So it's iTunes for the best, forget about the rest.

- Steven Rosenberg

NEW ORDER: ``Waiting for the Sirens' Call'' (Warner Bros.) - Three stars With its melodic mix of clubby synth-pop and plaintive vocals, New Order was on the cutting edge of the ``Blue Monday''-crazed '80s. The edge may have dulled over the years but the Manchester band hasn't. It keeps on crafting gorgeous pop songs like ``Who's Joe?,'' ``Waiting for the Sirens' Call'' and ``Krafty'' while at the same time exploring new ground. The jangly guitar-driven ``Turn'' and gritty rocker ``Working Overtime'' are two of the more original songs on the album, which starts off sounding like a greatest-hits set until you realize that you don't know the words.

- Sandra Barrera

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(1) no caption (Rob Thomas)

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