In Brief

** Britney Spears, “ . . . Baby One More Time,” Jive. With such candy-coated hooks as the No. 1 title song, the 17-year-old former Mouseketeer’s debut recalls ‘80s-vintage Madonna and Mariah Carey, with peppy dance tunes, emotionless ballads and an updated Sonny & Cher song. There’s real bubble-gum appeal to the Jackson 5-style “Soda Pop,” but this album’s most remarkable feature is the closing ad Spears narrates, shilling the new collection from label-mates the Backstreet Boys. “The Beat Goes On,” indeed.

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Albums are rated on a scale of one star (poor), two stars (fair), three stars (good) and four stars (excellent). The albums are already released unless otherwise noted.

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Hear the Music

* Excerpts from these albums and other recent releases are available on The Times’ World Wide Web site. Point your browser to: https://www.latimes.com/soundclips