ALBUM REVIEWS / POP

** Luther Vandross, “I Know,” Virgin. So Vandross is now making dance-floor jams for the party people among us. That’s almost as scary a concept as Pat Boone’s foray into heavy metal. Not content with being R&B;’s premier balladeer, the New York-based singer goes into a few new directions on the 14th album of his career, with mixed results.

It’s hard to be impressed by the rap stylings on an updated version of “Get It Right”--a slinky, sexy hit he originally produced for Aretha Franklin back in 1983--since Vandross himself sounds so underwhelmed. In a different rhythmic mode is his duet with jazz stylist Cassandra Wilson on “I’m Only Human.” This track sounds like a marketing plan designed to broaden these artists’ fan bases, not a pairing based on real chemistry.

While the luscious, seductive “Now That I Have You” is vintage Vandross, this album doesn’t administer the jolts of pleasure you’d typically expect. Hard-core fans may find something here to their liking, but he’s been much better on previous albums than he is here.

Albums are rated on a scale of one star (poor), two stars (fair), three stars (good) and four stars (excellent).