Album Reviews : In Brief

* 1/2 Jimmy Buffett, “Barometer Soup,” Margaritaville/MCA. Terminally and happily becalmed in the land of the lotus eaters, Buffett stirs a pot of smooth and carefree, fervent and sentimental folk-pop, with a sickly sweet saturation of steel drumming for flavor. His music’s inherent shallowness wouldn’t be so annoying if Buffett didn’t also set himself up as a fish-barrel philosopher ladling out a lifestyle creed that oozes self-satisfaction. New albums are rated on a scale of one star (poor), two stars (fair), three stars (good) and four stars (excellent).