* * * * <i> Great Balls of Fire</i> , * * * <i> Good Vibrations</i> , * * <i> Maybe Baby</i> , * <i> Running on Empty</i> : BRAVADO, BALLADRY

* * * “JODY WATLEY.” Jody Watley. MCA.

* * * “IN LOVE.” Bunny DeBarge. Motown. As a founding member of Shalamar, Jody Watley played an integral role in the group’s dance-oriented visuals and sunny, California black-pop sound. As a solo artist, Watley is still most comfortable with a straight-on, assertive groove, and this album’s first single, “Looking For a New Love,” expresses it best. It even contains one of the most-fun-to-dance-to kiss-off lines of the year: “Now you’re like the rest,” Watley coolly observes on top of a head-pounding beat, “unworthy of my best . . . hasta la vista, baby.” Watley sounds good when she’s waging war.

Elsewhere on the album, “Love Injection” is rather humorlessly suggestive, and “Learn to Say No,” her duet with ex-Wham! member George Michael, finds her mostly relegated to singing backup. But Watley redeems herself on “Still a Thrill,” on which she sings lead in a mannish basso-baritone while her overdubbed background vocals act as a girlish soprano alter ego. It takes a certain amount of nerve and pop panache to pull that off. Watley’s got it.

Following the lead of her brother El, Bunny DeBarge has also left the black pop group DeBarge to go the solo route. Her album has its share of up-tempo dance tunes, like the snappy “Save the Best for Me” and an Earth, Wind & Fire-ish “Let’s Spend the Night.”

But DeBarge is best on ballads, particularly those she writes herself, like “A Woman in Love,” “Never Let Die” and “I Still Believe.” While their singing voices aren’t dissimilar, Watley has the dance-floor savvy while DeBarge’s satiny, sentimental aura shines brightest in a more romantic, low-key setting. Those traits should serve them well in soloville.