Holiday Gift-Giving--The Hints of ’92

How does Madonna’s musical product compare with her literary and film endeavors?. . .Which of those Seattle bands offers the best grunge for the buck? . . . Is Garth’s latest album as good as his show?. . .Which rappers are for kids and which are for adults only?. . .Are there some worthy soundtrack albums out there?

Those are the kinds of questions facing holiday shoppers. Calendar’s annual Top 40 Shopping Guide is designed to ease the burden by summarizing The Times’ reviews of 40 of the nation’s most popular and/or critically admired albums, listed alphabetically. The ratings are based on a scale of one star (poor) to four stars (excellent). The comments are from the original reviews, but the ratings sometimes reflect additional staff input.

* * 1/2 AC/DC, “AC/DC Live,” Atco/EastWest. You want originality and cutting-edge heavy metal? Then ignore this album of ’90 and ’91 live versions of AC/DC’s best material dating back to the ‘70s. These are derivative--but also explosive, foot-stompin’, guitar-driven rockers.

* * * “Boomerang” original soundtrack, various artists, LaFace. Writers-producers L.A. Reid & Babyface have put together an exemplary R&B; soundtrack, featuring a sultry Babyface-Toni Braxton duet and another marvelous pairing in Aaron Hall and Charlie Wilson.

* * * 1/2 Da Lench Mob, “Guerillas in tha Mist,” Street Knowledge. The debut album by this L.A. gangsta rap trio is superior to nearly everything in the genre. There’s some gutter lingo directed at women and gays, but on the plus side are snarling raps, sharp humor, canny observations and fast, funky beats.

* 1/2 Kenny G, “Breathless,” Arista. The saxophonist has played it safe again, taking a strictly commercial route. Even within the narrow limits of the pop-jazz instrumental genre, it’s possible to come up with much better music than this.

* * * 1/2 Kris Kross, “Totally Krossed Out,” Columbia. Unlike other kiddie groups, this pair of street-wise pubescent rappers has a hard edge, coming across almost as naughty as Naughty by Nature, and spunkier and funkier than Another Bad Creation.

* * * Redman, “Whut? Thee Album,” Chaos. Backed by funky beats, Redman rambles on raunchily and irreverently, spinning ribald tales of ghetto life and blithely promoting pot smoking. Arguably the rookie rapper of the year, Redman (Reggie Noble) maximizes his assets--glibness and a wicked sense of humor.

* * Sade, “Love Deluxe,” Epic. Sade’s supercool, detached vocals haven’t changed, but some of the material here sounds like a bad imitation of Enya’s New Age mood music. A few tunes make for good romantic background music.