The Atlanta Constitution from Atlanta, Georgia • 81

G'Thursday, Nov 6, 1997 LIVING The Atlanta Journal The Atlanta Constitution atnome THE LATEST IN MUSIC, VIDEOS AND BOOKS CD OF THE WEEK Weekend. Twain's pseudo-country is pop business as usual TOP SINGLES 1. "Candle in the Wind '97 Something About the Way You Look Tonight," Elton John 2. "You Make Me Wanna Usher 3. "How I)o I Live," LeAnn Rimes 4.

5. "My Love Is the Somethin' for the People TOP ALBUMS 1. "Harlem World," Mase 2. "You Light Up My Life: Inspirational Songs," LeAnn Rimes 3. "Live at Red Rocks," Dave Matthews Band 4.

"Butterfly," Mariah Carey 5. "The Album," the Firm with Lange at the controls. No foo-foo-foo-foolin'. Twain does, however, deserve credit for testing country's strong-as-a-fence post boundaries. She's not afraid to take chances minor keys, tempo changes, fiddles replicating guitar riffs.

She's also under-credited as a songwriter, with a real knack for "treat-me-right" women's lyrics that are often in contrast with her sex kitten image. Too often, the posturing spills over into the music, with another batch of contrived asides, such as Twain chirping kick it and gol-darn. With little deviation from the first i t's going to be huge. This long-anticipated CD from Shania Twain, the follow-up to her 12-mMon-selling The Woman in Me," is a second helping of the same rock-based flirty style that launched her career two years ago. She's written every song here and, again, the tunes aren't really country (one track, "When," is actually a blatant reworking of Smashing Pumpkins' moody Like the Surge soft drink, producerhusband John "Mutt" Lange and Twain have a winning formula: they write hook-infested "Come on Over" Grade: Shania Twain.

Mercury. 16 tracks. album, fans will no doubt snap this up, giving Nashville sales a kick in the seat of the jeans. But, in reality, Twain's contribution to country music is about as substantial as Blue Swede's cover of "Hooked on a Feeling" blaring over the Himalaya ride at the fair fun, fast and forgotten in three minutes. Miriam Longno Access code: 150 pop tunes, throw in just enough pedal steel and fiddle to justify the country label, then roll out Top 40 production tricks to perfectly appeal td the target audience (young).

It's the same technique Lange used when he steered metal group Def Leppard to the top of charts in the '80s. He's simply substituted Twain for cocky Joe Elliott, who could probably record a top-selling version of "Salty Dog" MARK TUCKER Mercury Records With the looks and the hooks that fans are clamoring for, Shania Twain releases a new album, "Come on Over," infused with her winning formula. MINI REVIEWS Brown's newest persona turns down the voltage MM TOP ALBUMS 1. "Harlem World," Mase 2. "Butterfly," Mariah Carey 3.

"The Album," the Firm 4. "Soul Food" soundtrack 5. "Evolution," Boyz II Men TOP COUNTRY ALBUMS 1. "You Light Up My Life: Inspirational Songs," LeAnn Rimes 2. "(Songbook) A Collection of Hits," Trisha Yearwood 3.

"The Greatest Hits Collection," Brooks Dunn 4. "Everywhere," Tim McGraw 5. "The Other Side," Wynonna ATLANTA'S TOP SINGLES 1. "Candle in the Wind '97-Something About the Way You Look Tonight," Elton John 2. 3.

"You Make Me Wanna Usher 4. "My Love Is the Somethin' for the People 5. "4 Seasons of Loneliness," Boyz II Men ATLANTA'S TOP ALBUMS 1. "Harlem World," Mase 2. "Soul Food" soundtrack 3.

"The Velvet Rope," Janet Jackson 4. "The Dance," Fleetwood Mac 5. "YouUghtUpMyLife: Inspirational Songs," LeAnn Rimes ATLANTA'S TOP ALBUMS 1. "Harlem World," Mase 2. "Soul Food" soundtrack 3.

"The Velvet Rope," Janet Jackson 4. "Evolution," Boyz II Men 5. "Butterfly," Mariah Carey ATLANTA'S TOP COUNTRY ALBUMS 1 "You Light Up My Life: Inspirational Songs," LeAnn Rimes 2. "(Songbook) A Collection of Hits," Trisha Yearwood 3. "The Greatest Hits Collection," Brooks Dunn 4.

"The Other Side," Wynonna 5. "Everywhere," Tim McGraw Contributing: Billboard, SoundScan 1 SPICE GIRLS "Spiceworid" Virgin. 10 tracks. You already know if you "Wannabe" Grade: owning this. And you know it's fluff, but is it good fluff? Yes and no.

The Latin-flavored lead track and first single, "Spice Up Your Life," stomps all over most of the tracks and it stops short of three minutes, like every good pop single should. Over the length of a CD, this stuff gets a bit monotonous. But as the tracks get pulled for single release, their entertainment value will certainly increase. Coming out of a radio or club public address system in short bursts, they'll be bright, energetic and fun. On the downside, Scary, Baby, Sporty, Posh and Ginger just don't have the vocal (girl) power to pull off the big-band stylings of "The Lady Is a Vamp." Though the CD may seem long, it isn't.

Thirty years ago, 38 minutes was a generous amount of music on one LP. Not anymore. As for the lyrics, well, this isn't supposed to be profound, is it? Shane Harrison Access code: 930 VARIOUS ARTISTS "I Know What You Did Last Summer The Album" Columbia. 1 5 tracks. After the Grade: B- innovations of the "Spawn" soundtrack, which paired popu lar metal acts with leadmg lights of electronica, it's hard to listen to this teen movie tie-in and its standard roundup of disparate alterna-faves (Korn, Toad the Wet Sprocket, Southern Culture on the Skids) with much enthusiasm.

Nevertheless, there's the odd pleasure to be had here, oddest among them a sinister reading of the Seals and Crofts hit "Summer Breeze" by industrial gloom merchants Type Negative. Other inspired covers: Kula Shaker's turbocharged version i of the Deep Purple classic "Hush" and L7's boot-stomp remake of the Blue Oyster Cult biker anthem "This Ain't the 1 Summer of Love." Doug Hamilton Access code: 825 THE VERVE "Urban Hymns" Virgin. 1 3 tracks What Oasis clumsily attempts on its latest effort, "Be Here Now," the Verve, another British five-some, accomplishes with effortless panache. "Urban Hymns," the Verve's third album, is all sweeping rock excess. The songs roll and crash like thunderclouds, their lyrics seeded with serious themes love, addiction, despair, pain, death.

This isn't modest music, and at times the group stumbles over its pretentions. "The Rolling People" is a rather lumbering exercise in psychedelic pop, and some of the string arrangements verge on overkill. But when it works, it works big you'll be waving your lighter in the air from the first note of the gorgeous single "Bitter Sweet Symphony" to the last. Doug Hamilton Access code: 780 T1MBALAND MAGOO "Welcome to Our World" Atlantic. 1 8 tracks.

3 As his shown by Grade: B- his dominance of the urban contemporary charts this year, Timbaland is a notable producer. His work is instantly identifiable. But his signature sound (often comparable to a drum machine falling down a flight of stairs) has, at the least, been jarring for Top 10 acts Missy Aaliyah Your Girl Only and Ginuwine are all the better for this beat. Nonetheless, his debut with sidekick rapper Magoo would have been better if Timbaland had stuck to beats and left the vocals to others. Instead, he mars his imaginative backdrops by feebly boasting by himself My about the great music he creates.

Knowing his strength makes those few missteps by Timbaland even more questionable. Sonia Murray Access code: 101 ror your coub, ana Grade: Grade: A Loreena McKennitt, "The Book of Secrets" (world music) Bob Dylan, "Time Out of Mind" (pop) Marian Carey, "Butterfly" (pop) Grade: A- Stereolab, "Dots and Loops" (rock) Grade: Mase, "Harlem World" (rap) Sammy Kershaw, "Labor of Love" (country) Various artists, "LA Confidential" (soundtrack) Chumbawamba, "Tubthumper" (rock) LL Cool "Phenomenon" (rap) Green Day, "Nimrod (rock) Will Downing, "Invitation Only" Boyz II Men, "Evolution" Grade: Craig Handy, Cedar Walton, others, "Hello, Friend: To Ennis, With Love" (jazz Salt-N-Pepa, "Brand New" (rap) BILLY PORTER "Untitled" DV8. 1 2 tracks. Slip Billy Porter's debut in between your Will Downing and 4.0 CDs in the carousel. The mood won't be disturbed, and before you know it, you will have created the perfect accompaniment to the kind of evening that inspires producers to write those love tunes that become "your tunes such as Porter's easy acoustic ballad "True Love," "Love Is on the Way" and the piano-based sweet nothing every woman would want to hear, "Lullaby." At times, the material can be a bit bold and theatrical Is on the Way," "Maybe I'm as if Porter is back on Broadway doing "Five Guys Named Moe." But even a mundane lyric on a mission, girt My eye is on the can't undermine this considerable new force in the soul crooner category.

Sonia Murray Access code: 417 phone, dial a 1 1 wnen asea Grade: much as we don't want to admit it, we like our LxL boxers tough like Mike Tyson and our Bobby Brown about the same. The self-professed bad boy of New Edition was the main attraction when the reunited sextet toured earlier this year. He pulled his pants down onstage, and he's been arrested a few times during the five years between solo albums, but that's just about what we'd expect Well, this isn't On the open ing track, Brown insists, "It's sal my thing ain't a damn thing changed." But the absence df hitmakers LA. Reid and Babyface and Teddy Riley is instantly evident in "Forever's" '80s jjjxiduction and average lyr-ics Ahd who is this electricity-drained guy talking about going tothe park with his four children on "Sunday Afternoon," dedicating a rather endearing song to wife Whitney Houston All I and asking, "Would it be out of place for you THE SUNDAYS "Static Silence" Geffen. 1 2 tracks.

ISHEZJ On their At i i Grade: A- I uura release in seven years, vocalist Harriet Wheeler and guitarist David Gavurin continue to combine Cocteau Tjtvins-like ethereal vocals with the complex guitar jangle of the Smiths. After the success of their first two recordings, the duo is ensconced in its home studio. The time and care lavished on these songs shows in the beautifully layered mountain of guitars that swirl around Wheeler's maturing, though still pixielike, voice. And the aching beauty of songs like "Summertime" and "Monochrome" demonstrate that their facility with melody is as sharp ad ever. Ac i Shane Harrison Access code: 375 rr CntllJni IIJC You MCA Tough-guy shtick is mostly missing from "Forever." 3 "Forever" Grade: Bobby Brown.

MCA. tracks. and I to get together at my place?" Surely, this is not the same absorbed vocalist who said, "You want to be with me? You gotta be the same way that another girl would be" (on the single "Don't Be Come on, Bobby, don't be bland. Sonia Murray Access code: 210 HARRY CONNICK JR. 'To See You" Columbia.

10 tracks. 15? Withthis lush; downright beauti Grade: B- ful release, the former prodigy pianist and vocalist has returned to solid musical ground. After recent forays into self-penned pop-rock tunes spotty "She" and the dreadful 1996 concept album, "Star Connick once again treats his fans to what they expect: brilliantly arranged, romantic musical landscapes, this time uniquely blending a jazz quartet with full orchestra (there are 44 violinists listed in the credits), all written by Connick. Unlike previous big band efforts, "To See You" is a slo-mo, candlelit dinner inducer. Richard EJdredgc Access code: 615 can hear excerpts from the albums we review.

From your JUUIILfLIML. numbers at theend of each review to hear that album's sound bites. Calls are 50 cents eacn.