POP MUSIC SPECIAL : The Record Industry’s Big Push

The fall season is always the most active time for pop record releases, as the music industry gears up for its November-December season, during which nearly a third of all records, tapes and CDs are sold. But that can mean confusion for even the most serious music fans, as old favorites compete with newcomers for consumers’ attention.

These are the albums expected to generate the most critical and commercial interest of all the post-Labor Day releases during the hectic year-end rush. The selections, presented in alphabetical order, cover all parts of the pop music spectrum, from heavy-metal fathers (Aerosmith) and sons (L.A. Guns) to rap innovators (the D.O.C., Young M.C.); from rock kings on the rebound (Bob Dylan, the Rolling Stones) and pop queens living the lush life (Linda Ronstadt, Barbra Streisand) to country chartbusters (Randy Travis) and folkie mavericks (Tracy Chapman, Michelle Shocked).

The comments are by the Times pop writers indicated, but the star ratings (one is poor, five a classic) sometimes reflect additional pop staff input.

The reviewers are Robert Hilburn, Dennis Hunt, Mike Boehm, Richard Cromelin, Jonathan Gold, Steve Hochman, Connie Johnson, Craig Lee, Kristine McKenna, Randy Lewis, Don Snowden, Chris Willman, Paul Grein, Duff Marlowe and Don Waller.

** 1/2 AEROSMITH, “Pump,”Geffen. In this era of total Aerosmithification, the band comes out with an oddly non-Aerosmithy album. The hooks are of the lightweight, catchy variety, and the songs are stripped down to the point where they seem almost pop sketches. (Gold)

*** 1/2 THE D.O.C., “Nobody Does It Better,”Ruthless/Atlantic. This year’s hot hard-core hip-hop sound comes from Dr. Dre, the Compton deejay behind Ruthless Records, which in the last several months has released million-selling rap LPs by J.J. Fad, Eazy-E and N.W.A. Dre has transformed this Texan into something of a Compton-style Big Daddy Kane, a guy who plays the English language the way Itzhak Perlman plays a Strad. (Gold)

** FASTER PUSSYCAT, “Wake Me When It’s Over,”Elektra. Faster Pussycat is rock ‘n’ roll about marketing rock ‘n’ roll, the hard-rock answer to the Pet Shop Boys. Their neo-Sweet second album is, if anything, even less glossy than their decidedly unglossy debut, funny, fast and clever. (Gold)

*** ICE-T, “Freedom of Speech . . . Just Watch What You Say,”Sire. Wherein the lisping legend in leather listens hard to N.W.A, funks up his beats and finally makes the awesome hardcore gangster-rap album you always knew he had in him. After all, he invented the genre. It’s crude--if this LP didn’t offend you, it wouldn’t be doing its job--but effective. His best one yet. (Gold)

*** 1/2 BIG DADDY KANE, “It’s a Big Daddy Thing,”Cold Chillin’/Reprise. Kane has always been the most virtuosic of hardcore rappers, fast-flowing rivulets of words leaping and splashing across the beat. Finally he has rhythm tracks as smooth as his seamless rhymes and beats that are funky enough. Definitely the street-rap record of the fall. (Gold)

* 1/2 L.A. GUNS, “Cocked and Loaded,”Vertigo/PolyGram. L.A. Guns shares influences, image and misogynist lyrics with Guns N’ Roses. Though Tracii Guns is an appealingly thrashy guitarist, Phil Lewis’ vocals are flat and characterless. L.A. Guns’ first album was raw andpunky, but felt genuine. This second album seems as if the band has been staring too long at the golden ring. (Gold)

*** MOTLEY CRUE, “Dr. Feelgood,”Elektra. Their strongest album since “Shout at the Devil” half a dozen years ago. Of all the L.A. glam-metal bands of the ‘80s, Motley Crue has always understood both the Bay City Rollers kind of teen-dream appeal and the importance of the riff: the pounding, shrieking, two-chord monoliths that have always powered the best hard rock. (Gold)

Coming Up:

Other albums scheduled for release in the coming weeks include:

ABC, Art of Noise, Basia, Bobby Brown (dance mixes), Club Nouveau, Phil Collins, Erasure, Gipsy Kings, Ofra Haza, the Jesus and Mary Chain, Joan Jett, Quincy Jones, Kid Creole, Kris Kristofferson, Yngwie Malsteem, Roches, Shinehead, Keith Sweat, Tiffany, the Time, Jody Watley (dance mixes), Whitesnake and Peter Wolf.