WALLFLOWERS DESPITE - OR BECAUSE OF - DYLAN.

Byline: Fred Shuster Daily News Music Writer

Nobody's sure if the Bob Dylan association is helping or hurting the Wallflowers, the acclaimed band led by the famous troubadour's 26-year-old son, Jakob Dylan.

There's no denying the likeness. The young Dylan sings a lot like his father did in the mid- to late '60s, and the Wallflowers have a rootsy, Hammond B3-driven sound reminiscent of such classic Dylan albums as ``Highway 61 Revisited.''

Jakob Dylan also boasts a talent for writing poetically ambiguous lyrics that lots of people can relate to, as evidenced by the success of the Wallflowers' ``6th Avenue Heartache,'' a track from the band's second album, ``Bringing Down the Horse'' (Interscope), which is among the top modern-rock radio hits in the nation.

And like his dad, Jakob Dylan would rather let listeners figure out what the songs mean rather than spoon-feed interpretations by including a lyric sheet along with the disc.

``Printing the lyrics has become the expected thing to do,'' the younger Dylan said. ``It used to be the exception to the rule. I take a lot of time with my lyrics, but I don't feel it's important to place so much importance on them. Let people listen harder.''

Whether they're listening harder or not isn't clear. But they are buying. Bolstered by widespread airplay for ``6th Avenue Heartache,'' the band's sophomore album is bubbling under the top 50 in the albums chart.

At adult album alternative (triple-A) radio KSCA-FM (101.9), the Wallflowers are here to stay, said music director Nicole Sandler.

``The album is one of my favorites of the summer,'' she said. ``The single is still going strong with terrific response. At the same time, the album has lots of great songs. I think it'll be with us for a long time.''

The Wallflowers - including Rami Jaffee (keyboards), Michael Ward (guitar), Greg Richling (bass) and Mario Calire (drums) - appear tonight and Saturday in sold-out shows at the Troubadour in West Hollywood.

Tickets are available only from rock radio KLOS-FM (95.5) for two Wallflowers shows Monday at the Viper Room in Hollywood.

``Everybody has a job in this band,'' Dylan said this week from a tour stop in Phoenix. ``My job is the songwriting. What appeals to me most are songs, new or old. I was always appreciative of good songwriting and strived to find something I could listen to. I've never been very impressed with great rhythms or ambiguous instrumental sounds. That never appealed to me as much as a piano, a voice and a good song.''

Jakob Dylan was born in New York, the youngest of five children of Bob Dylan and Sara Lowndes. He was around 3 when the family moved to Los Angeles. His parents divorced in 1977.

Dylan put the first incarnation of the Wallflowers together in 1989 and began gigging at the Kibitz Room in back of Canter's delicatessen in Los Angeles. Lenny Kravitz and Jackson Browne began turning up to hear the band, and soon the place was packed.

The group's self-titled 1992 debut album for Virgin Records sold few copies, and when two key executives at the company left the label, the Wallflowers asked to be released from their contract.

After some personnel changes, sessions began for ``Bringing Down the Horse,'' with Adam Duritz of Counting Crows and Michael Penn dropping by to help out. Duritz sings the background harmonies on ``6th Avenue Heartache.''

Dylan said the song lay around for a few years before he got around to finishing it.

``That's normal,'' he said. ``You sit and kind of wait. The song was written originally as an idea. I don't think in terms of radio. I've never had that feeling of knowing something will be a hit. I don't know how most people do it, but I don't even pretend to know. I don't know what a radio song consists of. I left it to my record company and they thought they could run with this one.''

``6th Avenue Heartache'' seems to touch a universal chord. It opens with a description of a shooting on a New York street, followed by a chorus that maintains, ``the same white line that was drawn on you was drawn on me.''

Whatever that means.

``A lot of people know what the song is actually about,'' Dylan said. ``It tells about something that happened in New York and some other things. Most people just like to sing along with a chorus anyway. A lot of people don't pay attention to the words. The version that's on the radio is missing a whole verse, which would make the song make a lot more sense. But nobody's really noticed.

The Wallflowers have been likened to Counting Crows in the use of the B3 organ, midtempo material, humanistic lyrics and '60s feel. Dylan believes the musical climate has changed sufficiently that a band can thrive without offering thrash guitar and screaming vocals.

``I'm not really in the business of having illusions,'' he said, echoing the sort of response his father often gave. ``But our first record did what it was able to do.

Despite the growth of triple-A stations such as KSCA, Dylan insists the Wallflowers' music is separate from any prevailing trend.

``The kind of music this band does isn't part of anything,'' he said. ``It doesn't exist for any radio format. Some refer to it as organic or Americana music, but I've never attempted to label it. It isn't of any particular moment. But for some reason, it's important for people to categorize something instantly.

``The first question is always, `What do they sound like?' That's unfortunate because it makes people not want to hear things for themselves. It's a cliche to say labeling is a bad thing. But it is.''

THE FACTS

Who: The Wallflowers, with Maypole.

Where: Troubadour, 9081 Santa Monica Blvd., West Hollywood.

When: 8 p.m. today and Saturday.

Tickets: Sold out; try brokers.

Information: [phone].

CAPTION(S):

Photo

Photo: The Wallflowers include Mario Calire, left, Rami Jaf fee, Greg Richling, Jakob Dylan and Michael Ward. ``Everybody has a job in this band. My job is the songwriting,'' Dylan says.