SOUND CHECK.

WHITE STRIPES: ``Get Behind Me Satan'' (Third Man/V2) - Two and one half stars

Spoiler alert: In the interests of truth, let it be known that House of Freaks and Treat Her Right, two underground bands forgotten by everyone but the White Stripes and your reviewer, did this same kind of passionate low-fi blues-roots thing on banged-up equipment in the late-'80s - to a chorus of widespread disinterest. Times have changed. Today, powerfully marketed minimalist noise is iPod food across the globe.

While something of a chore to plow through, the Stripes' off-its-head fifth platter occasionally provides a jolt - and that's all anyone can ask of a rock record these days. If Jack and Meg White's strange tub-thumping new set (containing three numbers inexplicably inspired by '40s screen siren Rita Hayworth), falls short of ``Elephant's'' stomp, at least half the 13 tracks will keep customers satisfied during the group's four-night stand at the Greek Theatre next month.

Recorded in just two weeks and offering only three high-energy songs, the disc finds Jack's curb-crawling electric guitar replaced by a Nicky Hopkins-channeling piano, marimba and acoustic guitar. The results frequently recall the lesser tracks on a Quicksilver Messenger Service album.

Some standouts: opener ``Blue Orchid,'' a blast of the familiar Stripes formula setting the stage for oddities to come, the simple but annoyingly infectious ``My Doorbell,'' and the convincing basher ``Instinct Blues.''

Hey kids, let Satan lead next time.

- Fred Shuster

RY COODER: ``Chavez Ravine'' (Nonesuch) - Four stars

Santa Monica native Cooder has embraced and interpreted the past for four decades, from the ancient Airstream trailer decorating the cover of his 1970 debut to the pachuco boogie coloring this effective concept album on the sad history of Chavez Ravine.

Cooder's intriguing multivoiced work tells the story of how that barrio - a ``Poor Man's Shangri-La,'' as the opening song goes - was bulldozed in 1950 to make way, ultimately, for Dodger Stadium. Utilizing originals and covers of sometimes obscure '40s and '50s numbers sung in Spanish and English, the 15 tracks draw on a variety of Latin styles - and Cooder sings on just four of them (including the bluesy 'dozer lament ``It's Just Work to Me'' and a resigned ``In My Town'').

Distinguished guests provide plenty of heat (the late Chicano music patriarch Lalo Guerrero, boogie king Don Tosti, Thee Midniters frontman Little Willie G. and Ersi Arvizu of El Chicano) on an illuminating, moving work that will garner many awards.

- F.S.

RALPH STANLEY: ``Shine On'' (Rebel) - Three and one half stars

The 78-year-old Dr. Ralph's latest gospel album covers the gamut from bluegrassed-up standards (``This Little Light of Mine,'' ``I'll Fly Away'') to chillingly primitive a cappella meditations on mortality (``The Old Church Yard,'' ``Why Should We Start and Fear to Die''). His band, the Clinch Mountain Boys, are as tight as ever, instrumentally and vocally, and even Ralph's minister and his wife get a few counter-harmonies in. As always, though, it's Stanley's ethereally ragged, authentic voice that lends distinction to the most familiar and exotic tunes, straddling as it does the misty borderline between here and the hereafter.

- Bob Strauss

BILLY CORGAN: ``The Future Embrace'' (Martha's Music/Reprise) - Three stars

It's not his best or most accessible work, but Corgan, formerly of the Smashing Pumpkins and (more recently) Zwan, does deliver some deliciously dark rockers on his solo debut. On ``All Things Change,'' he faces uncertainty with hope for a better world. And that seems to be a recurring theme throughout much of the industrial pop set, from the apocalyptic ``Mina Loy (M.O.H.)'' to his dreamy cover of the Bee Gees' ``To Love Somebody,'' which features Robert Smith of the Cure on backing vocals. As for Corgan's own familiar, nasal whine, it can grate on the ears. But you can't start holding that against the '90s modern-rock icon now.

- Sandra Barrera

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Lester Cohen/WireImage.com

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