* * * * <i> Great Balls of Fire</i> * * * <i> Good Vibrations</i> * * <i> Maybe Baby</i> * <i> Running on Empty : </i> : RASTAS: ROUGH, ROMANTIC

* * “NO NUCLEAR WAR.” Peter Tosh. EMI-America. * * * 1/2 “ROOTSMAN SKANKING. Bunny Wailer. Shanachie. Peter Tosh and Bunny Wailer were Bob Marley’s vocal partners in the original Wailers, but their solo careers have followed different paths. Tosh, whose career has tailed off recently, actively courted a wider audience in the late ‘70s, while Wailer retired to the Jamaican hills and only began his comeback after reggae surged to international prominence.

“Rootsman Skanking” is actually Wailer’s 1982 “Rock ‘N’ Groove” album fleshed out with three unreleased tracks. Superbly produced and arranged by Wailer, the album is a delight for fans of reggae as Jamaican pop with no message beyond dance and romance.

The one minor problem is that the material is too much of the same mid-tempo piece. “Ballroom Floor,” “Dance Rock,” “Cool Runnings,” “Rock ‘N’ Groove” and the title track are tremendous songs individually, yet their collective impact is slightly diluted in the context of the album.

“No Nuclear War,” Tosh’s first album in four years, is flawed by rough production, but the lanky singer has at least abandoned his flirtations with rock and disco. His singing is spirited and expressive, but the songwriting is suspect--Tosh seems to have run out of the vivid imagery that originally made his pointed social commentaries noteworthy.

The exceptions here are “Fight Apartheid” and “Vampire.” The kicker is that Tosh originally wrote and recorded both songs in the late ‘70s. “Lesson in My Life” and “Testify” are strong, personal tunes, but too often Tosh’s lyrics (like “With a nuclear war, we won’t get far”) subvert admirable sentiments through cringe-inducing banality.