MICHAEL JACKSON

The first disc of this two-CD set features Jackson's greatest hits; the second reads like a defense lawyer's brief, albeit one that has already backfired on the defendant. There's no taking away MJ's past accomplishments; as for the present and future, it's all so much celebrity psychodrama. Best lines ``No one understands me/They view it as such strange eccentricities....People say I'm strange that way.'' As Jim Morrison used to sing, ``People are strange, when you're stranger,'' or something like that.

KATE JACOBS

Jacobs sings stories about death, childhood and love in a waifish voice like Iris Dement with the pop sensibility of Kirsty MacColl. Her songs vary from languid, cabaret-folk to country-tinged pop. ``Be Brave'' boasts a bridge that modulates with the melodic sophistication of Elvis Costello; ``A Sister'' is gleeful, Byrds-era retro-rock. Hoboken guitar wizard Dave Schramm contributes virtuoso guitar, piano and accordion.

JEWEL

The phenomenal success of this two-year-old, mostly solo acoustic live album says much more about the market for straight-talking female pop singers than it does about Jewel herself. Past the first track there are no musical values here at all -- see Deb Pasternak or Ani DiFranco for those. But Jewel has tapped into a yearning on the part of disaffected young woman for acknowledgment of their pains. Sylvia Plath she ain't. [ 8/10/97 ]

JIM'S BIG EGO

Don't Get Smart (Eastern Front)

Brilliant, eccentric, funky singer-songwriter Jim Infantino has made his best album ever, which is occasion to celebrate. More than on his previous albums, which all had great moments in between darker ones, "Don't Get Smart" is chock full of memorable melodies, striking images and more of Infantino's witty, biting commentary on the world around him. He comes across like a bratty Beastie Boy on "This Message," a boasting grunge-rocker on "Ahead of the Curve," an ennui-laden funk-rocker on "Ambition," and a gentle children's storyteller on "Jumblies." And after what he does with it, Simon and Garfunkel's "Feelin' Groovy" will never be the same. One of the year's best. [ 10/25/98 ]

ELTON JOHN

At this late date, what can one fairly expect from Elton John? The gleeful innocence of his pop hits from the '70s can never be recaptured. Instead, he delivers gloppy, insipid power ballads like "Live Like Horses," which includes the execrable phrase, "I've spent too long in the belly of the beast." For this he hires a lyricist? In sum, "The Big Picture" is a big downer.[ 10/26/97 ]

RICKIE LEE JONES

With so many currently popular female singer- songwriters working the bohemian, jazz-folk territory carved out by Rickie Lee Jones in the wake of Joni Mitchell, it's only right that Jones herself surfaces with her best effort in over a decade. Jones has obviously been listening to a lot of contemporary music, and producer Rick Boston has constructed some starkly minimalist, electronic hip-hop environments that set off Jones's melodies and lyrics in a beneficial manner not unlike recent Suzanne Vega or Latin Playboys. Warning: don't go looking here for another "Chuck E.'s in Love."[ 7/6/97 ]