HOLLY PALMER

This 11-song, major-label debut by singer-songwriter Holly Palmer introduces an artist of stunning depth and talent. Palmer's Berklee-trained, instrumental and vocal jazz background infuses her R&B- and hip-hop- inflected performance and heartfelt compositions, many of which seem to be about a rather sordid childhood. Palmer is backed superbly by a Berklee cast of characters and star cameos by guitarists Bill Frisell and John Leventhal and bassist Me'Shell NdegeOcello, but it is her frank, neo-Beat character sketches and her funky sensuality that suggests Palmer is a Rickie Lee Jones for the '90s. (11/24/96)

PATRICK STREET

Cornerboys (Green Linnet)

On its fifth album, Irish folk supergroup Patrick Street once again delivers a mix of traditional ballads and instrumental jigs, slides, polkas and reels, as well as a few original tunes. With members from famed Irish groups including the Bothy Band, DeDannan, Planxty and the Battlefield Band, the quartet boasts the sound of an organic unit. Listen to the way Andy Irvine's vocals and Jackie Daly's accordion work in perfect counterpoint on the last verse of "Sweet Lisbweemore" -- you rarely hear that level of musical interplay outside of jazz. A sweet, smooth, riveting effort.

ELLIS PAUL

On his third full-length album and Rounder debut, this rising star of the new-folk, singer-songwriter scene creates a cast of characters with whom he argues, cajoles, hangs out with and just plain has fun. Paul has learned to make his vocal limitations work in his favor by stressing the conversational aspect of his lyrics, and he has even come up with a few catchy hooks on this album of great promise.

ELLIS PAUL

Translucent Soul (Philo/Rounder)

It's very possible that no one with less talent for matching words with melodies has ever gotten as far as Ellis Paul has in terms of commercial and critical success. What is equally amazing is how little Paul's songwriting improves with each subsequent effort. In the past Paul has focused his gaze on the world around him, telling stories about friends and fictional characters. On his latest, Paul turns his gaze toward his navel, with predictably tedious results. Even the few topical numbers on the disk fail to make their points with any originality; the title track unwittingly sets back race relations 20 years through sheer inanity. For the antidote, see Dan Bern's "Different Worlds." [ 09/13/98 ]

PEARL JAM

To its credit, Pearl Jam is not a band to stand still or rest on its laurels. Forever wrestling with its sound, it strays the furthest from its grunge/hard-rock roots on its latest, which kicks off with the delicately wistful "Sometimes" and includes a U2-ish anthem, "In My Tree," and a Nusrat Khan- influenced world-beat number, "Who You Are." As a vocalist, Eddie Vedder is to his generation what Dylan was to the '60s, Robert Plant to the '70s and Springsteen to the '80s. But what ties it all together is that Pearl Jam is first and foremost a band, and the interplay between the guitarists and the rhythm section on "No Code" is an artful ballet.

COURTNEY PINE

Modern Day Jazz Stories (Antilles/Verve)

This latest disk by the British saxophonist is one of the most successful attempts at integrating hip-hop elements into jazz without destroying the latter's integrity. DJ Pogo's turntable is used as just another instrument in an ensemble which includes such stellar talents as Geri Allen on keyboards, Mark Whitfield on guitar and Cassandra Wilson on vocals. But it's rightly his own Coltrane-influenced reeds that dominate Pine's mix.

PRINCE

This album is actually credited to a symbol, but let's not kid around: this is Prince at his most hard- rocking. For a contractual obligation album, this turns out to be one of his best, full of crunching guitars and funky rock beats. Prince has figured out how to employ hip-hop as part of his palette, and rappers, samples and scratches are just parts of a dense and colorful mix that puts the Red Hot Chili Peppers and all funk-rockers to shame.

THE PUSH STARS

Meet Me at the Fair (Imago)

In the song "Shy," the protagonist shows up naked at a masquerade, an image that captures the essence of singer-songwriter Chris Trapper's sensibility: peeling away layers of artifice to find hidden truth. Trapper's Boston-based, folk-rock trio's debut CD presents a baker's dozen, acoustic-oriented originals that evince a Van Morrison jones similar to that of Counting Crows' Adam Duritz. "Lack of Motion" is an apt anthem to independence that recalls Beck, and at his most morose, as in "The Other World," Trapper can sound like American Music Club's Mark Eitzel. Trapper comfortably stands shoulder-to-shoulder with these cutting-edge cohorts.