Ballads

Don't expect sequined show girls or helicopters landing on stage. But if your idea of heaven is a simpler place and time, then "Brigadoon" may be the ultimate in escapist entertainment.The fact that this vintage Lerner and Loewe musical romance is dated is its principal charm, for "Brigadoon" is an 18th-century village stuck in time. The premise is that the minister, worried that his blissful village would be corrupted by the encroaching evils of civilization, prayed for a miracle to preserve Brigadoon forever from the outside world.

En route to yet another gig, Aaron Neville is on a bus in Ventura, Calif., smack dab in the middle of the desert. The reception on his cell phone is weak. But Aaron's molasses-thick New Orleans accent is unmistakable. It's interesting that out of this big, brawny, tattooed dude flows one of pop's most angelic voices. He's usually decked out in tight jeans and leather vests, looking as if he's about to slide onto his Harley and burn rubber as he makes his way to a greasy juke joint. But Aaron is a shy guy, a homebody, who renders ballads in a crisp falsetto - the delicacy of which is, at times, heartbreakingly beautiful.

Earl Coleman, 69, a jazz singer who recorded with Charlie Parker, Sonny Rollins and Shirley Scott, among others, died Wednesday of cardiac arrest at his home in Manhattan. A deep-voiced performer of ballads, he was a product of the graceful early forms of jazz singing. He had absorbed Pha Terrell, Dan Grissom and Billy Eckstine, and their heavy, sophisticated ease. Though he was mostly a ballad singer, he also performed up-tempo material and blues pieces. And while his style was linked to an earlier era, he recorded and performed with members of the be-bop generation.

One wonders why she even wants to go back there. Ten years ago, Alanis Morissette was the angriest woman in rock. Her seminal album, Jagged Little Pill, netted millions of listeners around the world who could identify with the singer's naked, bitter lyrics. Morissette was thoroughly disgusted with love, enraged at the selfish dude who kicked her heart around like an empty soda can. And she never apologized for or tried to sweeten the anguish. Her lyrics were unabashedly salty as the electric guitars echoed her sentiments.

Before launching into his cover of "If Only For One Night," Luther Vandross asked a rapt Capital Centre audience last night, "Do you like love songs?"Of course they did, and when he told them that they had come to the right place for them, he won the truth-in-advertising award.Just as you go to Cal Ripken for base hits, you go to Luther Vandross for music to set a romantic mood.That's what Vandross does and that's all that he does and it is both his blessing and his curse, as evidenced in last night's largely uneven 105-minute performance.

As she sang about sleeping with somebody else's husband, Shirley Murdock's heart was in the church. In 1986, the roof-raising soul singer scored her biggest hit with "As We Lay," a tormented, passion-drenched ballad that flew into the Top 10 on the R&B charts and pushed sales of her self-titled debut to gold. "There was so much controversy about that song," Murdock says 21 years later. "It didn't celebrate infidelity. That song was about two people making a bad decision, dealing with the regret.

Is this a great time for R&B singles?Absolutely. In fact, things couldn't be better commercially. For months now, the Billboard Hot 100 has been saturated with the sounds of black America -- not just rap and dance music, but funk, soul harmony and R&B ballads -- as acts like Janet Jackson, Vanessa Williams, Whitney Houston, Bobby Brown, SWV, Silk, Shai, H-Town, Jade and Boyz II Men crowd the upper reaches of each week's list. On a couple of occasions, black music accounted for as many as 18 of the top 20 slots.

It's hard to consider any musician lazy who has batted out 21 albums of original material, plus a dozen live releases. But Richard Thompson somehow manages to see himself that way. "If you're going to be any kind of artist you have to be on the case 24 hours a day," he says. "Sometimes I have to pull myself up short and remind myself of my obligations." Thompson even thinks it "neglectful" of his muse that he never before recorded an album like his new one, Front Parlour Ballads. The disc, out Aug. 9, is the first studio work in Thompson's illustrious 38-year career that comprises entirely original songs on which he manned every instrument himself.

Phillips Foods World Headquarters was bustling with activity long after work hours on a Friday evening. The activity was also of the after-work sort - drinking, eating and listening to good music - all in the name of raising money for Sail Baltimore. This was the organization's fourth annual "Beer, Boats & Ballads" celebration, already a tradition for some of the guests. And everyone had his or her favorite part. "Raw oysters. Cold and salty," said Jim Stevens, a University of Maryland accountant.

SO FAR SO GOODBryan Adams (A&M 31454 0157) What does it say about Bryan Adams that his best songs have all been raucous, guitar-driven rockers, while his biggest hits have all been sappy, sentimental ballads? That he may seem a tough guy on the outside, but deep down he's just an old softie? Maybe, but the answer suggested by his greatest hits collection, "So Far So Good" is a little simpler: He's just not rough enough to be a convincing rock and roller. No matter how much Keith Richards-style guitar he pumps into "The Summer of '69" and "It's Only Love," his voice lacks the sly, Jaggeresque snarl that would make the music seem dangerous.