Searching hard for signs of life in Carey’s music

Mariah Carey

“Charmbracelet” (MonarC/Island Def Jam)

*

What’s the starting bid for Carey’s next recording contract?

No one wants to kick a pop star when she’s down, even if her music has given us the creeps as much as this New Yorker’s has. Her voice can move between octaves with the speed of an oscilloscope, but with almost no accompanying character or soul.

So I went through this 65-minute “comeback” disc twice, trying to find something -- anything -- positive to say after the disaster of the “Glitter” film and album and the humiliation of having EMI Records pay $30 million to bail out of its contract with the singer.

Bingo: There’s a two-second guitar solo on “You Got Me” (Track 5) sharp and catchy enough to rescue a song so undistinguished even guests Jay-Z and Freeway can’t brighten it.

You won’t have trouble finding the solo because it is repeated something like 50 times over the course of the track -- which makes you wonder whether it’s a sample or if someone actually sat there and hit the strings over and over.

Elsewhere on “Charmbracelet,” beware: The album (due Tuesday) is every bit as professional and lifeless as you’d expect from Carey, unless you think that this mega-seller’s music really adds up to anything more than what an amateur, “American Idol’s” Kelly Clarkson, gave us in her debut hit “A Moment Like This.”

Because Carey has sold umpteen million albums, record executives must keep thinking they can collect on these multimillion-dollar contracts if she can only recapture the public’s ear. When EMI bailed, Island Def Jam signed her to a $20-million, three-album deal earlier this year. After “Charmbracelet,” you wonder if someone at the label is already reading the fine print.

- Robert Hilburn

J.Lo may be giving

fluff a bad name

Jennifer Lopez

“This Is Me ... Then” (Epic)

* 1/2

The singer-actress’ latest pop confection is pretty insubstantial, even for fluff. Indeed, the hip-hop-flavored single “Jenny From the Block” is easily the best number, despite its annoyingly disingenuous down-to-earth-diva blather.

J.Lo’s M.O. is to offer little more than shimmery dance tunes and cloying ballads that avoid vocal histrionics and stay within her limited range. But this batch feels particularly factory-made, even though she co-wrote (along with a gang of song doctors) nine of the 12 tracks. Indeed, although things at times get a little too personal -- as with the ew!-worthy treacle of “Dear Ben” (as in Affleck, her fiance) -- the ripped-from-my-diary approach doesn’t make “This” any more intimate, or any less cliched.

The bland sentiments perfectly match the music’s generic funk-lite and sparkly disco-pop. If the opening sitar-ish riff on “The One” sounds familiar, that’s because it’s cribbed from the old Stylistics hit “You Are Everything,” which Lopez performs in an unremarkable bonus track cheekily titled “The One (Version 2).” She also does herself no favors by faithfully remaking Carly Simon’s ’78 hit “You Belong to Me,” turning an already lame song a whiter shade of pale.

-- Natalie Nichols

It’s a barrier buster

from Rhymes

Busta Rhymes

“It Ain’t Safe No More ...” (J)

***

Busta Rhymes has long been one of hip-hop’s most innovative and entertaining figures, spitting lightning-fast lyrics in a seemingly limitless slew of voices that would make Mel Blanc proud. His larger-than-life persona and in-your-face delivery have powered an impressive string of hits, including “Put Your Hands Where My Eyes Can See” and “Pass the Courvoisier,” but Rhymes has been criticized for not delivering essential albums. Bogged down by skits and filler tracks, his full-lengths rarely deliver on the promise of their singles.

His sixth album goes to great lengths to remedy that situation. Using top-shelf producers such as the Neptunes and Jay “Dilla” Dee, “It Ain’t Safe No More ... “ is Rhymes’ most consistently solid collection to date. Brimming with radio-ready singles (the innuendo-laden bouncer “Make It Clap”), rugged street anthems (the bombastic “Call the Ambulance”) and smooth, crossover moves (“I Know What You Want,” featuring Mariah Carey), the material finally does Rhymes’ unquestionable MC skills full justice throughout the album’s 18 cuts.

-- Scott T. Sterling

Arthur delivers

distinctive album

Joseph Arthur

“Redemption’s Son” (Enjoy/Universal)

*** 1/2

In his two previous albums, the Ohio native circled around a perfect balance of accessible craft and ambitious artistry, but he hit the mark only occasionally. This time he’s on target more often as he reins in some of his experimental leanings.

Yet he loses none of his distinctiveness as he incorporates a variety of pop, folk and dense rock impressionism in service of moody explorations. Overall, his ability to slide between various styles continues to evoke his mentor, Peter Gabriel, even if his delivery isn’t as dramatic.

And like Gabriel, he prowls the shadowy corners of his psyche with pen in hand. Death stalks this album, from the ghost of the bad dad in the title song to the dead lover in “Blue Lips,” with biblical-scale self-flagellation worthy of Nick Cave (“Thought I was Jesus Christ / As I dug out my eyes”). Glimmers of hope appear, but they’re just teases. “Will salvation only come if I fall?” he wonders in “Favorite Girl.” It’s his failure to find salvation or redemption, though, that gives the art its life.

-- Steve Hochman

Even with Sisqo,

Dru Hill lacking

Dru Hill

“Dru World Order” (Def Soul)

**

Funny how a little taste of failure can send a highflying artist crashing down to earth. Two years ago, Sisqo’s “Thong Song” was a ubiquitous hit and his album “Unleash the Dragon” sold millions. There was even talk about leaving his old group Dru Hill behind for good, but, hey, no hard feelings, guys.

But Sisqo’s second album didn’t sell nearly so well, and now the prodigal son has come back to try to make some commercial magic with his old mates. “I knew that we could make it,” the band sings on “Dru World Order’s” “I Do (Millions),” one of many slow jams on this enervating record. That might be wishful thinking, but Dru Hill has certainly hedged its bets.

This is a group that skips the preliminaries and aims straight for the bedroom. “If I Could” and “I Love You” are simmering ballads designed to seduce but never offend. When Sisqo sings, “I’d like to see if I could light your fire,” he adds, “would you mind?” Clearly, Dru Hill’s female audience must be wooed back with care after a four-year hiatus, but this uninspired collection doesn’t shoot off any hot sparks.

-- Marc Weingarten

In brief

Alison Krauss + Union Station

“Live” (Rounder)

***

Beyond the warmth and vitality of the music itself, this live, two-disc album is a tribute to the integrity of Krauss, a marvelous singer who for years has resisted offers from major labels to leave her bluegrass roots and the Union Station band and move into a more country-pop direction. The spirit of “O Brother Where Art Thou?” lives on in these artists.

-- Robert Hilburn

Baby Da #1 Stunna

“Birdman” (Cash Money/Universal)

** 1/2

The Big Tymers member and co-owner of the Cash Money label is one of hip-hop’s most in-demand collaborators, with his off-key delivery and clever, consumer-conscious name-dropping. P. Diddy, Toni Braxton and Cam’ron join him on his first solo release, but this party drags on a bit too much, making Baby’s repetitive ruminations on women, drugs and materialism a little tiring.

-- Soren Baker

Talib Kweli

“Quality” (Rawkus)

***

In the hip-hop nation, this Brooklyn native is regarded as an ambassador of political and social consciousness delivered through lyrically lethal rhymes over rock-hard rhythms. On “Quality,” cameos from Mos Def, Bilal and Res bring a neo-soulful edge to Kweli’s taut urban wordplay, such as the bouncy, dance-floor-friendly “Waitin’ for the DJ.” Producers Jay Dee and DJ Quik bring the bass-heavy beats.

-- S.T.S.

Albums are rated on a scale of one star (poor), two stars (fair), three stars (good) and four stars (excellent). The albums are already released unless otherwise noted.

On the Web

To hear samples from albums by Mariah Carey and Joseph Arthur, visit www .calendarlive.com/rack.