ALABAMA’S FAILURE AS MARLBORO MEN

Alabama, which headlined Friday night’s Marlboro Country Music concert at the Forum, is virtually three bands in one, though the result isn’t as rewarding as it might appear. The extraordinarily successful quartet is part country, part rock and part Las Vegas gloss--but there are oh-so-much-more arresting attractions in each field. Neither the band’s music nor its flashy high-tech stage approach offers soulful or original edges.

By contrast, Merle Haggard, also on Friday’s bill, is an exquisite singer and evocative writer who has moved over the years from specializing in renegade honky-tonk songs to tales of the workingman’s blues to increasingly wistful introspection--and influenced a generation of performers in the process. For instance, Randy Travis, one of country’s hottest newcomers, is typical of young singers whose style has been so shaped by listening to Haggard records that the word “copy” seems more appropriate than “influence.” In a light mood just three days before his 50th birthday, Haggard even did some wry imitations of his own favorites (including Lefty Frizzell) and early rivals (Buck Owens).

The Judds, the mother/daughter duo that opened the main portion of the well-paced concert, deal in an enticing contemporary style of rural country, but their limited, 30-minute segment seemed too rushed.