SOUND CHECK.

ALAN JACKSON: ``Drive'' (Arista/Nashville) Four stars

Alan Jackson has a lot going for him - he's not a Nashville clone, his songs rarely stray from their pure country roots, and he doesn't appear to be an egomaniac more concerned with sales than scales. Oh, and he's got a 10-gallon stage act to boot.

Nowhere are Jackson's strengths better illustrated than on ``Drive,'' his deservedly chart-topping 11th Arista album, which chugs along to the rootsy, satisfying strains of mandolin, harmonica and shimmering guitar.

The disc opens strong with ``Drive (For Daddy Gene),'' a tribute to the tunesmith's late father, a Ford mechanic. When Jackson reminisces about youthful attempts to learn to drive a pickup and boat with help from dad, you can't help but feel touched.

Another goodie is ``Designated Drinker,'' a superb duet with the equally convincing George Strait that deals with a pair of barroom pals trying to get over the gal who's broken their hearts.

Jackson plainly has a way with a ballad that brings to mind good ol' boy George Jones. In the excellent ``Bring on the Night,'' a man comes home after a long day to the woman he loves. Somehow, even as you tell yourself the thing was cut in a brightly lit Nashville studio after a whole lot of takes, the heartfelt song rings true.

The aching ``Where Were You (When the World Stopped Turning),'' penned in response to the events of Sept. 11 and an immediate best seller, also connects, this time with a sense of heartbreak and hope. ``Drive'' contains two versions of this moving number - the studio take and the much talked-about premiere performance from the CMA Awards in November.

Even though 2002 just began, it's hard to imagine any contemporary country effort will better this one before year's end.

- Fred Shuster

HANK WILLIAMS III: ``Lovesick, Broke and Driftin' '' (Curb) Three stars

On his second album, Hank III sounds even more like his sainted grandpa than his daddy ever did (which may explain ``The F Word'' song on Junior's new disc). And with this almost all-self-penned collection, young Shelton milks the family self-destruction franchise for all it's worth, and proves himself a good if hardly Hank the First-level poet of the stoned, blown chance -- but then, even Leonard Cohen acknowledged that he's not in the original Williams' league, and few songwriters ever will be.

- Bob Strauss

THIEVERY CORPORATION: ``Sounds From the Verve Hi-Fi'' (Verve) Three stars

Rob Garza and Eric Hilton make up the Thievery Corporation; the duo runs a Washington, D.C., lounge and has released a series of popular albums that has blurred the boundaries between trip-hop and international kitsch, creating chill-out music for ultra-cool urbanites. Having them raid their record collections to pick their favorite tracks from the Verve jazz catalog is no stretch given their love for Brazilian and Afro-Cuban stylings. The resulting album isn't as consistently pleasing as one of their own mixes, but newcomers to Verve's '60s bossa nova beats will undoubtedly love it.

- Glenn Whipp

VARIOUS ARTISTS: ``MGM Soul Cinema Vol. 1'' (Beyond) Three stars

In the '70s, blaxploitation flicks - politely referred to here as ``soul cinema'' - entertained inner-city audiences overlooked by mainstream Hollywood. Among the essential elements of titles like ``Across 110th Street'' and ``Trouble Man'' was a forceful funky r&b score.

In this 13-track introductory set from a welcome new series that includes the full-length soundtracks to many notorious 42nd Street epics, the standouts include a couple of top-notch James Brown workouts from ``Black Caesar'' along with crisp numbers lifted from ``Blacula'' and the otherwise unbearable ``Cotton Comes to Harlem.''

- F.S.

HANK WILLIAMS JR. ``Almeria Club'' (Curb) Three stars

Recorded at an Alabama juke joint where his father barely escaped a shootout in 1947, Bocephus' best album in a dog's age includes dirty blues from his alter ego Thunderhead Hawkins, odes to well-endowed women, dead football players and the outdoor life, and a post-Sept. 11 reworking of his semi-classic anthem ``A Country Boy Will Survive.'' These cuts run Junior's usual range from gut-grabbin' good to eye-rollin' corny, but the two family-related tunes - the warmly nostalgic ``Tee Tot Song'' about Hank Sr.'s musical education, and the hilarious Kid Rock duet ``The F Word,'' which references son Hank III's brusque independence - are absolute gems.

- Bob Strauss

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(1) ALAN JACKSON

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