FALL ALBUMS : In Brief : ** Gladys Knight, “Good Woman,” MCA.

Overall, this is a tasteful, smartly conceived album, and a couple of its best songs--”Mr. Love” and the cozily passionate title cut--were written by Knight herself. The one missing ingredient is excitement. The concept of teaming Knight with Patti LaBelle and Dionne Warwick for a remake of Karyn White’s “Superwoman” is juicier and more soulful than the actual result.

Four asterisks: excellent; three stars, good; two stars, fair; one star: poor.