The second round of sounds from 54 kicks off with Stars on 54--the powerhouse trio of club canaries Ultra Naté, Amber, and Jocelyn Enriquez--breathing life into a house reinvention of Gordon Lightfoot's tepid "If You Could Read My Mind." What distinguishes the 15 subsequent tracks is a sparkling symbiosis of artist, melody, and musical invention. Could anyone but the towering Grace Jones have growled "I Need a Man" with such ferocity? And the syncopated bridge of Bonnie Pointer's "Heaven Must Have Sent You" oozes more juice than most contemporary R&B hits. Thoughtful sequencing, with an emphasis on the oft-overlooked stylistic breadth disco achieved under the best producers and performers, makes this an even better bet than volume 1. --Kurt B. Reighley
