Brooks’ ‘Sevens’ Eases Back as ‘Titanic’ Continues Surge

While the “Titanic” soundtrack continues to plow forward, Garth Brooks’ formerly brisk-moving “Sevens” album seems to be treading water.

The Brooks collection, which topped the national album sales chart for the last five weeks of 1997, has fallen to No. 18 as sales last week slipped to fewer than 50,000 copies, its slowest week since its release in November.

Meanwhile, the unsinkable “Titanic” easily held onto its No. 1 position with another blockbuster week, selling about 582,000 copies to run its total to 2.2 million.

Usher’s “Nice & Slow” was the nation’s top-selling single for the third week in a row, scanning about 104,000 copies, and continues to drive sales of his album “My Way,” which sits at No. 4.

What’s Hot

Here are some recent releases that are generating critical or commercial attention:

Garth Brooks’ “Sevens” (Capitol). The country superstar’s strongest album to date is a 40-plus-minute couch session in which the good ol’ boy becomes human-potential poster boy.

Celine Dion’s “Let’s Talk About Love” (550 Music/Epic). Dion’s voice is a technical marvel, but her delivery lacks the personality and intuitive sense of drama that are a diva’s stock in trade.

Mary Lou Lord’s “Got No Shadow” (Work Group). Lord lets her street-singer charm shine throughout her major-label debut, but the result feels like an incomplete picture of what she can do.

Metallica’s “Re-Load” (Elektra). Less a sequel to last year’s “Load” than a virtual repudiation of it, the follow-up is strong enough to make you forgive the band its past concessions to mass tastes.

Pearl Jam’s “Yield” (Epic). On the Seattle band’s fifth album, Eddie Vedder’s vocals continue to express a variety of emotions as the group’s music grows in all the important ways.

Barbra Streisand’s “Higher Ground” (Columbia). The heart of this studio collection of inspirational ballads showcases the kind of higher aspirations that are all too rare in mainstream pop.

The Spice Girls’ “Spiceworld” (Virgin). If you’re going to conquer the world with your outrageous antics and messages of “girl power” and “positivity,” you ought to muster a bit more zest for your second album than the English quintet has done here.

2Pac’s “R U Still Down (Remember Me?)” (Amaru/Jive). This two-disc package shows that the slain rapper had a lot more to offer the world. Unfortunately, the material is culled from his least artistic period.

What’s New

Peter Case’s “Full Service No Waiting” (Vanguard).

What’s Coming

Tuesday: James Iha’s “Let It Come Down” (Virgin), the Lynns’ “The Lynns” (Reprise).