SUBLIME SCHLOCK

OK, OK, so the faces we used in Record Rack last week to rate albums were stupid. While we launch a study to come up with a better symbol for rating the records, we’ll go with the old standby of 1 to 4 checks. Translation: = “Great Balls of Fire”

= “Good Vibrations” = “Maybe Baby” = “Running on Empty”

“READY OR NOT.” Lou Gramm. Atlantic. As a member of Foreigner, Lou Gramm has been accused of churning out schlocky hits, but there’s schlock and then there’s schlock. Foreigner’s version of it was a notch above average, and occasionally, as with the gospel-infused “I Want to Know What Love Is,” the schlock even verged on the sublime.

On his first solo effort, Gramm sings as if he’s had a yoke lifted off his back. His vocals sound freer and he sings rock tunes like “Arrow Through Your Heart” and the title track with conviction. All of the songs have a romantic context, including “Midnight Blue,” on which Gramm’s don’t-complain-don’t-explain macho pose is persuasive.

What Gramm has going for himself is one of the best male voices in rock: Sinewy and expressive, it’s a voice that’s capable of getting all accusative and tough on “Cold As Ice” or mushy and ultra-romantic on “Waiting for a Girl Like You” or yearning and introspective on “I Want to Know What Love Is.” But then, those Foreigner songs were pretty good to begin with, so maybe anybody with half a vocal cord could’ve made them come to life.

Most of the songs on “Ready or Not” represent a respectable effort on Gramm’s part, but none yell, “Listen to me!” The cut that comes closest is “If I Don’t Have You,” a ballad that recalls the dreamy insistence of “Waiting for a Girl Like You.” As for the rest of the tunes here, they’ll depend heavily on some inventive videos to make them more interesting. Otherwise . . . schlock, anyone?