HOT TRACKS LISA ROBINSON

Be in time with the tunes: let your freak flag fly.

Outkast's forthcoming Specikerboxx—The Love Below is a breathtaking, creative work. Bubba Sparxxx releases Deliverance—an album's worth of clever, redneck hip-hop. Run to Ruin, the third CD from Nina Nastasia (engineered by Steve Albini), sounds both mournful and uplifting; it's alternative music at its best. Chain Gang of Love, from Danish duo the Raveonettes, combines the much-needed best of the Ronettes, good-time 60s bubblegum, and raw garage rock. Take one ,— part B-52's, add a dash of Devo and some Cramps, and you've

got yet another Danish sensation: Junior Senior's entertaining, disco-flavored, ready-for-aerobics D-D-Don't Don't Stop the Beat.

As for the real Cramps, after 27 years of every-night-is-Halloween, they still manage to turn out terrific punk-in-the-Rue-Morgue rockabilly on Fiends of Dope Island.

Overdue: Except for the overuse of a wah-wah pedal on some cliched guitar solos, Strays is the welcome, explosive new one from (re-formed) Jane's Addiction. While not as aloof as their

last effort, Radiohead are once again mysterious and demanding on Hail to the Thief. Terence Trent D'Arby changed his name (to Sananda Maitreya), his country (he moved to Italy), and his record label (legal hassles encouraged him to go independent), but the enormous talent is intact and all over his adventuresome new Wildcard! The Joker's Edition. Michael Franti and Spearhead are rhythmically infectious, musically varied, and serious—but never preachy—on Everyone Deserves Music. Trip-hop pioneer Tricky presents his new vocal muse, Costanza Francavilla, on the intriguing Vulnerable.

Fans of Edie Bricked will be glad to know her exquisite voice is back on her Charlie Sexton-produced album. Masked & Anonymous is the soundtrack from the remarkable, allegorical movie starring Bob Dylan.

Understated: The terrific jazz stylings of Dianne Reeves are evident on the Arif Mardin-produced, brilliantly stripped-down A Little Moonlight. Both Jimmy Scott's Moon Glow and Aaron Neville's Nature Boy contain heartbreaking new versions of old standards. John Mellencamp recorded Trouble No More on a 16-track machine, sang Willie Dixon and Son House songs into tube microphones, and has produced the highlight of his 21-album career. Eric Clapton and B. B. King join blues great Buddy Guy on his sexy Blues Singer.

R. L. Burnside's First Recordings were made at home in 1968, before he ever went into a professional recording studio.

Underground: If you don't want to spring for individual CDs but are curious about the "hot," "new" New York rock scene, get Yes New York, with contributions from the Strokes, Le Tigre, Yeah Yeah Yeahs (performing here as Unitard), the Witnesses, and more. On Bazooka!!!, the Star Spangles have Carnaby Street style and a disdain for trust-funded, temporary rockers. Rooney, a cute, catchy pop-punk band of trendy rockers, release an eponymous debut.

Overheard: Allison Moorer's Show was recorded in concert in Nashville and features such associates as her sister, Shelby Lynne, and Kid Rock. Gillian Welch's Soul Journey is a thoughtful, countrified CD. Novel, the talented grandson of Solomon Burke, releases The Word, and on Coming from Where I'm From, newcomer Anthony Hamilton has a strong soul voice. Also out: new CDs from Thalia, Iggy Pop, Thrice, Metallica, Monica, Depeche Mode's Dave Gahan, Death in Vegas, Ashanti, Steve Winwood, Michelle Branch, Diane Schuur, Big Bad Voodoo Daddy, and the clever rap skills of Da Brat. Reissues this month come from

artists as far-ranging as Chet Baker, the Buzzcocks, Billy Eckstine, Bjork, Bad Brains, Duran Duran, Lou Reed, and Frank Sinatra.

No one understands a life like Frank's.