POP MUSIC : Listen to This: The Best of ’91 (So Far)

Sixteen weeks into the new year, most of America is still listening to the music of 1990. This slowness to respond to the new energy in pop is all the more discouraging because of the marginal nature of most mainstream pop last year.

The holdovers in the Billboard Top 30 for the week of April 20 included debut collections by Mariah Carey (whose album was still No. 1 after 43 weeks on the chart), Wilson Phillips (No. 3 after 54 weeks), the Black Crowes (No. 5 after 57 weeks--and the one bright spot here)--and Vanilla Ice (No. 11 after 31 weeks).

The good news as we approach the year’s one-third mark is that some of the 1991 releases on the Billboard sales list have a far greater sense of artistic invention and independence. The bad news is that most don’t. That’s because the nation’s musical choices are shaped by radio, whose conservative programmers continue to showcase conventional rather than challenging pop.

Here are 10 key 1991 releases from the Top 30 chart--divided into Yes and No categories to show which ones deserve special attention--and six other albums that most definitely deserve attention.

THE YEAR’S HOT NEW ARRIVALS

YES C+C Music Factory’s “Gonna Make You Sweat” (Columbia, No. 2 on the sales chart)--If Freedom Williams were a more interesting rapper, this pop-hop coalition led by producers Robert Clivilles and David Cole might be a blueprint for ‘90s dance-pop. Even with Williams’ limitations, the songwriting-production team offers some of the most delicious dance music of the season, highlighted by the show-stopping title track. There’s a synthetic edge in places reminiscent of standard ‘70s disco, but at their best Clivilles and Cole delight you.

R.E.M.’s “Out of Time” (Warner Bros., No. 4)--While not as consistently spirit-lifting as the spread of records that made this Georgia quartet the class of alternative rock in America for almost a decade--from “Radio Free Europe” to “It’s the End of the World as We Know It”--the album is a welcome step back to the warmly original vision of that early work. These tunes--mostly expressions of love that retain a sense of mystery and wonder even if some of the instrumental haze once associated with R.E.M. has been lifted--seem far more from the heart than 1988’s’ commercially conscious “Green.”

Sting’s “The Soul Cages” (A&M;, No. 10)--Not just the most ambitious and revealing album so far this year, but quite possibly the classiest pop excursion since U2’s “The Joshua Tree” or Paul Simon’s “Graceland.” The core of the album offers songs expressing the confusion and pain brought on by the death of Sting’s father. But in the graceful melodies and sometimes comforting, sometimes angry lyrics, there’s also a sense of a man reexamining his whole value system. Somber, serious, but also soul-stirring..

Another Bad Creation’s “Coolin’ at the Playground Ya’ Know!” (Motown, No. 17)--Smartly designed schoolyard hip-hop that invites you to imagine what another young Motown group, the Jackson 5, might have sounded like if they came along today rather than 20 years ago, or what the members of Bell Biv DeVoe would be giving us if they were now approaching their teens.

NO Enigma’s “MCMXC a.D.” (Charisma, No. 9)--”Good evening,” a sexy female voice offers at the start of the album. “This is the voice of Enigma. In the next hour, we will take you with us into another world . . . the world of music, spirit and meditation. Turn off the light, take a deep breath and relax.” That should be warning enough of the hokum in store. The mix of Gregorian chants and electro-dance pulse was attention-grabbing in the single “Sadeness,” especially when backed by an exotic video on MTV, but that quickly wears thin, and there’s nothing else to sustain interest.

Gloria Estefan’s “Into the Light” (Epic, No. 12)--There are traces of emotion in some of the material and arrangements in this drama-prone pop that could be at least somewhat evocative, especially coming from someone who has gone through a life-threatening accident. But Estefan’s singing fails to infuse them with the kind of personal testimony that touches us.

“New Jack City” soundtrack (Giant, No. 16)--Some big hip-hop, rap and R&B; names here, including Keith Sweat, Guy, Ice-T and Johnny Gill. But you’d be better off just getting an entire album by any of those artists whose music catches your ear rather than this acceptable but somewhat disjointed sampler of the urban contemporary music.

Great White’s “Hooked” (Capitol, No. 22)--The opening track, “Call It Rock N’ Roll,” is a decent enough nod to the Chuck Berry/Stones rock tradition, and there are other solidly appealing if rarely original pop-rock tunes here to position this veteran L.A. band as a future mainstream/arena staple, a la Aerosmith. But the band still needs more individuality and bite to deserve your attention.

Amy Grant’s “Heart in Motion” (A&M;, No. 24)--With all the wonders of computers, isn’t it possible for someone to put together a program for singers and record producers that automatically rejects any song with lines so clumsy that they make you cringe? Lines like: “You like to drive like Mario Andretti / I like it taking my time / But let me say wherever you are going / You know it suits me just fine.” The Christian-pop superstar has lost none of her frequently inspiring vocal edge in her move to secular pop, but she needs to toughen her ear for material.

Divinyls’ “Divinyls” (Virgin, No. 25)--Around the time of “Desperate” almost a decade ago, this Aussie outfit seemed to be on the edge of something big thanks to the oddly exotic and impassioned stance of lead singer Christina Amphlett, but the promise was lost in a series of anonymous follow-up albums. This album is still more anonymous than exotic.

THESE SHOULD BE HOTTER

So what six albums are better investments than the rejected ones? These 1991 releases are blessed with vitality and vision. Half of the albums are tied to the richly promising ‘90s rock energy building in England.

Joni Mitchell’s “Night Ride Home” (Geffen)--The most endearing album in almost two decades from the woman who may have done more than anyone besides Bob Dylan to advance the art of songwriting in the modern pop era. The songs this time reflect the intimacy and grace of Mitchell’s most acclaimed ‘70s work, but the tales of elusive dreams and fulfilled promises are distinguished by an added, disarming sense of maturity and seasoning.

Dinosaur Jr.’s “Green Mind” (Sire)--There’s a marvelous group of American rock songwriters--including Paul Westerberg of the Replacements, Bob Forrest of Thelonious Monster and Martin Zellar of the Gear Daddies--that operates musically within the ragged confines of post-punk energy but whose soulful sensibilities seem more akin to the ‘60s singer-songwriter tradition. Moving up from independent to major-label status, J Mascis, the leader of this Massachusetts band, shows he belongs in that class, singing about doubts and desires with a conviction and daring that seem always in step with the truth.

Happy Mondays’ “Pills ‘n’ Thrills & Bellyaches” (Elektra)--The Manchester outfit’s live show was a disappointment this time around, but the album’s sense of reckless artistic independence and hard-edged dance-rock grooves remains a door to the future. Note: The music only makes sense when you play it l-o-u-d.

The La’s’ “The La’s” (London)--Even if this quartet didn’t come from Liverpool, there’s no way you could avoid thinking of the Beatles when you hear the vocal interplay on “Timeless Melody” or the tunefulness of other key selections. Yet there’s a bite and occasional satire in the songs that also remind you of other British influences, including the Who and the Kinks. As with debuts by the Stone Roses, Ride and so many other recent British arrivals, there is a sense here of a band just awakening and still searching for direction. But there is immense promise.

Jesus Jones’ “Doubt” (SBK)--More British rock, this time from a band that seemed to own the U.S. college/alternative rock airwaves until the R.E.M. album arrived last month. The sound is more intensely layered than either the Mondays’ or the La’s’ as the band members mix rock, dance, hip-hop and anything else that has ever intrigued them in a swirl of sounds.

Yo-Yo’s “Make Way for the Motherlode” (Atlantic)--This Ice Cube ally sometimes seems like a guest rather than the star on this debut album produced by Ice Cube and Sir Jinx, but the highlights--a freewheeling celebration of ‘90s sisterhood--adds a jolting new aggression to the growing body of female rap. That’s enough to justify attention during a period in rap where just about the only other thing going on is a countdown until May 14--the day the new De La Soul album arrives.