VARIOUS ARTISTS 'RANDY JACKSON'S MUSIC CLUB, VOLUME ONE' (DREAM MERCHANT/CONCORD)

Producer and "American Idol" judge Randy Jackson aspires to be his generation's Quincy Jones. To that end, he has fashioned for himself a Quincy-like compilation album -- a la "Back on the Block" -- by cobbling together a few artists with marquee names along with newcomers he's trying to introduce to the masses.

The major difference? Jones was a brilliant mega-producer renowned for his work with such true visionaries as Frank Sinatra, Count Basie and Michael Jackson. Until "Idol," Randy Jackson was known as a session bass player with Journey in the late '80s when the band was declining commercially. He also did some behind-the-scenes production work for Mariah Carey.

Jones had a sound and the clout to attract some greats, but Jackson doesn't. The results are painfully clear on this mostly lame collection of pop, R&B, hip-hop and contemporary country. The focus track, the return of Paula Abdul, is the worst offender. Her "Dance Like There's No Tomorrow," a moronic dance ditty, lyrically celebrates the joy of dancing, yet the track has no rhythm or beat to make dancing possible.

Jackson taps "Idol" finalists Katharine McPhee and Elliott Yamin for a forgettable R&B tune, and R&B icon Sam Moore is wasted on a dud blues track. And who knows what purpose Carey fills on a gospel track beyond offering some piercing dog whistles in the background?

Newcomers Trisha Covington, Keke Wyatt and Kiley Dean fare well on the rock-tinged "What Am I So Afraid Of." But the best number by far comes from Britain's Joss Stone on a modern, percussion-laced revisiting of the old Bacharach-David nugget "Just Walk on By." Aside from a few lyrics, the track is unrecognizable from Dionne Warwick's elegant hit rendition, but Stone's has surprising punch and immediacy. Definitely downloadable.

--Howard Cohen, McClatchy Newspapers