It's make-or-break time for the music biz - fall, when heavily hyped debut artists attempt liftoff and old-timers find out if their fans will still go along for the ride. Autumn sales affect not only the labels, but the radio stations that play the records and the bands, young and old, who make the music. Some discs will be ripe for the picking and others will die on the vine. We inspected the crop to provide you with Interview's own fall preview

Rock and Pop

A fall bounty of sophomore albums from some of the late '90s' more explosive pop and rock newcomers is on the way. Stay tuned to see if Flona Apple can make the same kind of waves this year as she did with her 1996 Tidal debut (she's currently in the studio with Jon Brion for a tentative November release on Work). Other two-timers this season include post-grunge poster boys Bush (Nov., Trauma); novelty-hit "Bitch" Meredith Brooks (Sept., Capitol); So-Cal ska-lite band No Doubt, who are releasing their first album since 1994's blockbuster Tragic Kingdom (Nov., Interscope); and San Fran's hookiest rockers Third Eye Blind (Nov., Elektra), who have been recording at The Plant in Sausalito, soaking up the vibes that inspired such iconic rock albums as Stevie Nicks's 1990 Bella Donna.

On the comeback kick, Michael Jackson will try to resuscitate his flagging career with a very hush-hush new album (tent. Nov., Epic), his first since 1995's overhyped and underwhelming HIStory. Sting's Brand New Day (Sept., A&M) sounds like the kind of uplifting pop that should give his chart profile a much-needed boost. Meanwhile, expect Paula Cole to dominate the airwaves this season. "I Believe in Love," from her terrific new Amen (Sept., Warner Bros.), is disco of the Barry White variety: lustrous strings and sumptuous soul flavor.

Don't hold Geri Halliwell's disappointing solo debut as any indicator of how the next Spice to step off the rack will fare: The advance tracks from "Sporty Spice" Mel C's solo bow, Northern Star (Oct., Virgin), sound like the stuff of pop stardom - unexpectedly experimental full-tilt fun. (For the skinny on pop's new spice boys, see our boy band feature on pages 168-169.) And anyone who thinks rock is a dead medium need only listen to the music of Toshi Reagon and her almighty band Big Lovely. On Reagon's first album for Razor & Tie, The Righteous Ones (Sept.), the Brooklyn singer infuses her rock 'n' roll with earthy folk and sexy funk; her voice will give you, in the words of Maxwell, "church chills."

Trent Reznor works with a different kind of chill factor. He cornered the market on teenage angst with Nine Inch Nails' 1994 industrial-rock hybrid, The Downward Spiral. If the new single, "The Day the World Went Away," from his first full-length work since then, the ambitious double disc The Fragile (tent. Sept., nothing/Interscope), is any indication, he's still a master of alienation. Speaking of which, over the past two decades, goth granddaddy Robert Smith and the Cure have spread enough gloom to inspire legions of black-clad soldiers. They've never sounded darker than on what is said to be their swan song, Blood Rowers (Sept., Elektra), which caps their two-decade career.

Rock's great chameleon David Bowie, however, keeps on ticking, with his new CD, hours . . . (Oct., Virgin). Other blasts from the past: Bryan Ferry's As Time Goes By (Oct., Point Blank/Virgin), a swoon-and-croon collection of 1930s standards; an eight-CD Neil Young box set (Oct., Warner Bros.) chronicling Young's early career; and the Doors' Complete Studio Recordings (Oct., Elektra).

And for rock radio purists: Former Soundgarden vocalist Chris Cornell turns down the volume a few notches with his first solo album, Euphoria Morning (Sept., A&M), a more meditative, moody affair from the grunge years' best belter. Then, the mighty power chords, the hefty, grainy voice, the big heart, the big cliches - yes, Melissa Etheridge, master of the heartfelt and ham-fisted, is back with her first album in more than three years, Breakdown (Oct., Island). And classic rock lives on with LIVE, who return with The Distance to Here (Oct., Radioactive/MCA), produced by Jerry Harrison. Break out your lighters.

RAY ROGERS

Alternative

Cynics may insist there's nothing new under the sun, but the coming season's crop of alt-rock's roads-less-traveled proves there are still plenty of ways to infuse new life into time-tested forms, Take, for instance, the gaggle of acts who pay a decidedly modern homage to Frank Sinatra on Hangin' With the Chairman (tent. Sept., Reprise), including Smash Mouth and Big Bad Voodoo Daddy.

The often-derided singer-songwriter genre gets far darker and more compelling at its fringes - as evidenced by Johnny Dowd, a fiftyish blue-collar worker whose extraordinarily ravaged howl on Pictures From Life's Other Side (Aug., Koch) suggests a jam session between Tom Waits and Captain Beefheart's Magic Band. Another face of outsider folk is visible on Candy & Dirt (Sept., Impossible), the long*overdue second release from Heather Eatman, whose alternately literate and giddy tales offer plenty of whiplash-inducing moments. And Interview's longtime contributing music editor Dimitri Ehrlich releases his second album, As Nervous As You (Sept., Tainted Records), another intelligent batch of soulful, confessional songs. Using folk guitars, hip-hop beats, and mood-setting atmospherics, Ehrlich's compositions are as assured in their craft as they are vulnerable in their emotion.

The folks across the pond are seldom at a loss for outrage spiffed up with a healthy dose of pop sensibility, and this year's Great Brit Hopes deliver with a kick. Gay Dad - who back up a Sex Pistols-style media manipulation campaign with an aggressive post-electronic synapse jolt on their debut album, Leisure Noise (Sept., London) - hold down the more extreme end of the spectrum. The sultry side is represented by the 21st Century Girls - nastier twins of the Spice Girls assembled by that group's ex-manager (tent. Nov., Atlantic).

DAVID SPRAGUE

Hip-hop and R&B

With hip-hop and R&B stars generating as much glitzy hype as Hollywood's silver screen celebs, expect a luxury limo-size batch of high-profile releases - along with some new hopeful hitmakers - this fall. Old school comebacks include Run DMC (Oct., Arista), De La Soul (Oct., Tommy Boy), and former NWA member Ice Cube with his sixth offering, War & Peace Volume 2 (The Peace Disc) (Nov., Priority).

Edge-of-your-seat anticipation is building for Lil' Kim's follow-up to her 1996 ultrakinky Hardcore (Nov., Queen Bee/Undeas/Atlantic) and Dr. Dre's Chronic 2001: No Seeds (Sept., Aftermath/Interscope), which features his proteges Snoop Dogg, Eminem, and Kurupt. Two years after the murder of Notorious B.I.G. comes Born Again (tent. Nov., Bad Boy) - previously unreleased tracks and remixes, compiled by Puff Daddy. Lil' Kim, Lil' Cease, and Lauryn Hill contribute.

Serious female trouble looms with debuts by NYC radio personality Angie Martinez (tent. Nov., Elektra) and Sole, whose Skin Deep (Sept., DreamWorks) oozes with take-no-shit Atlanta production that could make Foxy Brown blush.

Young lyrical superstar Nas releases the sequel to his recent I Am called Nastradamus (Oct., Columbia), and Will Smith will attempt getting jiggy wit' it again (Oct., Columbia). Brooklyn heavyweights and longtime cohorts Big Punisher and Fat Joe have teamed up for Terror Squad (Sept., Atlantic).

Mary J. Blige's soulful voice will no doubt stir the airwaves all season with the recently released Mary (MCA), a celeb-packed CD that includes cameos by Elton John, Aretha Franklin, and Eric Clapton. Tamar Braxton, Toni's little sister, will test her vocal skills (Nov., DreamWorks), and En Vogue return (Oct., Elektra). The underground is also sparkling with Connecticut's The High and Mighty (Aug., Rawkus). Better install those sub-woofers now.

JULIA CHAPLIN

World Beat

Expect old and new names alike to ride the current Latino wave, caressing your ears with echoes of salsa, samba, and merengue. Rock en espanol heavyweights Los Fabulosos Cadillacs, a kaleidoscopic Argentinian outfit, have toned down the experimental vein of 1997's Grammy-winning Fabulosos Calavera and returned to a dance-friendly sound on La Marcha Del Golazo Solitario (Aug., BMG Latin).

Or try Ricardo Lemvo's third album, Sao Salvador (Aug., Putumayo), which finds the Congolese native concocting a luscious mix of Cuban-inflected salsa with the spiraling guitars of West African pop. Other intriguing sounds include a stellar collaboration between madgenius keyboardist Eddie Palmieri and percussion king Tito Puente (tent. Oct., RMM Records) and the U.S. debut of "mambo con rock" Cuban giants Los Van Van (Aug., Havana Caliente).

ERNESTO LECHNER

Jazz