N Sync Don’t expect any radical departures from Boy Band No. 2. On “No Strings Attached,” we boldly predict R&B flavor, unfettered harmonizing and several songs with “girl,” “need” or “heart” in the title. (Nov.)
Vivaldi: The Four Seasons With Anne-Sophie Mutter playing and conducting, there’s nothing old about this war horse. The violinist delivers the thunder and chills with abandon. (Nov.)
Barbra Streisand With “A Love Like Ours,” Babs serves up songs of amore–her first new batch in 11 years. Some are wedding trinkets for the new hubby. (Sept.)
Dr. Dre The rapper’s slow-rolling G-funk sound has come and gone, making “The Chronic 2001” seem more like a resurrection than a follow-up. Dre disciples Snoop Dogg and Eminem help spark this one up. (Oct.)
Beck Only a solo artist as kooky as Beck could feel the need to make a side project. When he made “Mutations” last year, who exactly was he taking a break from? Anyway, now Beck is back with the “official” follow-up to his hit album “Odelay.” This time around, expect something up-tempo. Weird goes without saying. (Nov.)
Stefon Harris The classically trained vibraphonist and composer is jazz’s reigning It man, and the tunes on “Black Action Figure” are seriously fun. (Sept.)
Fiona Apple When “Tidal” debuted, Apple’s bluesy alto stole sexiness back from the Spice Girls. Then some diva moments proved she needed to ripen a bit. Hot producer Jon Brion (Rufus Wainwright) should help ward off a sophomore slump. (Nov.)
Rage Against the Machine A third album of guitars and polemics from a band whose music is often as blistering as its politics. (Nov.)
Euphoria Morning / Chris Cornell
For 13 years, Chris Cornell’s plutonic voice elbowed for room in Soundgarden’s guitar stew. “Our approach was that everything should be louder than every other thing,” he says. When the band broke up in 1997, Cornell began his Solo Record, a term usually synonymous with navel-gazing acoustics. Not this time. “Euphoria Morning” is dark and thunderous with, yes, fewer guitars–but with a vocal turn by Cornell that dominates the album. “Making it was great,” he says. “I was hearing myself sound like I’ve never sounded before.”
