SOUND CHECK.

NIRVANA: ``With the Lights Out'' (Geffen/UME) - Two stars

Away from the mythology, hype and adoration, Nirvana wasn't all that special. An atrocious live act when it counted (in other words, when fans throughout the world were paying top prices to see them), the trio stood out on a mere handful of recordings that sharpened Kurt Cobain's sliver of craft to a fine point. Coming a decade after the singer's suicide and two years after a perfectly adequate 14-track best-of set that said it all, ``With the Lights Out'' will delight Nirvanatics only, leaving everyone else with the, er, lights out. Consisting of three discs of 61 scruffy, previously unreleased (and unreleasable) demos, badly recorded solo takes, radio performances and obscure B-sides, the admittedly well-designed box also includes a DVD of stage performances shot before all the hoopla ruined the group. While mostly bottom-of-the-barrel stuff, stirring moments do emerge with a trio of Leadbelly covers and the crunchy, largely unknown pop gem ``Do Re Mi,'' recorded weeks before the suicide. Hey, kids, hungry for more heartbreaking talent and heroin-laced self-destruction? Check out the real thing - Esther Phillips, Paul Butterfield, Danny Whitten or Grant Green, for starters.

- Fred Shuster

TEA: ``Voyages du Jour'' (Lost Grove) - Three stars

A fine mug of Tea. Guitarist Franck Balloffet and drummer-keyboardist Phil Bunch, familiar to local audiences from the much-missed groove ensemble Bateke Beat, have come up with a tasty set of Parisian Afropop. Songs of love, loss, pain and desire are put forth by a veritable United Nations of voices, backed by lyrical fretwork and percolating rhythms. ``Voyages du Jour'' could've used a little less sugar and a little more spice.

- Phillip Zonkel

ALISON KRAUSS & UNION STATION: ``Lonely Runs Both Ways'' (Rounder) - Three stars

The bluegrass supergroup's first studio album in three years sounds like it's been buffed to a perfect polish. Krauss' sweet, high vocals on a generous sampling of sad ballads represents her most precise singing yet - and like her tasteful fiddle fills throughout the disc, lack the desperate urgency that makes her such an exciting performer. Guitarist Dan Tyminski provides the passion on the few cuts he sings, among them a hard-core cover of Woody Guthrie's ``Pastures of Plenty.'' An unfailingly pretty album, this; wish it had more character-adding roughness.

- Bob Strauss

VARIOUS: ``Doctors, Professors, Kings & Queens: The Big Ol' Box of New Orleans'' (Shout! Factory) - Four stars

There have been countless New Orleans r&b compilations, but this splendid four-parter is more broad-minded than most, taking in 85 tracks by past, present and future Crescent City groove genies Louis Armstrong, Professor Longhair, Dr. John, Irma Thomas, Jon Cleary, Galactic and oodles more. The artists share more than finely calibrated senses of humor and warm personalities - there's a unique sense of rhythmic uplift that can be traced directly back to the Caribbean. A well-chosen track listing places proven gems like the Neville Brothers' ``Fear, Hate, Envy, Jealousy,'' the Wild Magnolias' ``Party'' and James Booker's ``Classified'' alongside local faves Kermit Ruffins' ``Drop Me Off in New Orleans,'' Sonny Landreth's ``South of I-10'' and Anders Osborne's jauntily titled ``Stoned, Drunk & Naked.'' Package comes with well-turned notes by KCSN-FM's Chuck Taggert, plus essays and sidebars imparting an inside view of the world's greatest - and perhaps last - true music city.

- F.S.

GWEN STEFANI: ``Love, Angel, Music, Baby'' (Interscope) - Two and one half stars

With her hiccuping vocals, No Doubt's lead singer ventures into solo territory sounding very different from the Stefani we know and love. Her debut effort is layered in '80s synth-pop, hip-hop, even musical theater (``Rich Girl,'' featuring Eve and produced by Dr. Dre). At one point she brings out the pompoms for ``Hollaback Girl,'' with its marching-band beats and street slang. But Stefani's most memorable song is ``Long Way to Go,'' a funky groove with a socially conscious theme, produced by and performed with Andre 3000 of OutKast fame.

- Sandra Barrera

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(1) NIRVANA

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