In Brief

* * Lisa Loeb & Nine Stories, “Tails,” Geffen. As tough-girl rockers proliferate, Loeb dares to be wispy--which would be fine if she didn’t tend toward precious lines about falling stars hitting her head, and folk-rock arrangements that over-dramatize impassioned intensity and hushed pointedness alike. Still, some rough edges show there’s more to Loeb than her “Reality Bites” hit “Stay (I Missed You)” (reprised here) would have you think.

New albums are rated on a scale of one star (poor), two stars (fair), three stars (good) and four stars (excellent).