SUMMER ALBUM ROUNDUP : HOT & COOL SUMMER SOUNDS : * * * * <i> Great Balls of Fire</i> * * * <i> Good Vibrations</i> * * <i> Maybe Baby</i> * <i> Running on Empty : </i> : ULTRA-DEBONAIRE O’NEAL

* * * “HEARSAY.” Alexander O’Neal. Tabu. Though he sports one of the roughest, toughest voices in R&B; since vintage Teddy Pendergrass, O’Neal doesn’t always stress the he-man approach. He prefers to bowl you over with ultra-debonaire charm, using lyrics like “I didn’t write the book of love . . . but I read it every day.”

Producers Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis reteam him with his 1986 “Saturday Love” partner Cherrelle on “Never Knew Love Like This.” The song bounces and rocks agreeably, though the route resembles this duo’s last soul excursion together.

Tender tunes like “Sunshine” and make-it- funky cuts like “Fake” are where O’Neal gets back on track. On “Fake,” a scorching male put-down of ‘80s-style beauty aids (hair weaves, blue contact lenses, et al.), O’Neal rages with all the R&B-charged; intensity of a man who’s fallen for a beauty queen only to awaken with a beauty school drop-out. Chilling stuff, indeed.

But it’s the verbal interplay between him and a couple of female “party guests” between songs that gives the album much of its personality. “I’m not the gossipy type, but . . . , “ says one of the characters, defending herself after having spilled the beans regarding O’Neal’s indiscretions on the title cut.

She also makes his life miserable on “Criticize,” in which she finds fault with everything from the way he dresses down to “these weak men” he’s insisted on inviting to his party. Hey, life can be tough. Sometimes it takes a vocal he-man like O’Neal to make it safely through.