`Get Shorty' Soundtrack Swaggers

When moviegoers walk out of the gangster comedy "Get Shorty" this weekend, they'll be singing John Travolta's praises - and they'll be humming the soundtrack.

In an era when most commercial filmmakers string together disparate tracks by whatever flavors-of-the-moment are likely to give them a cross-promotional video on MTV, the music chosen for "Get Shorty" - short on guitars and long on the fat, funky, forgotten sound of the Hammond B-3 organ - swaggers with a finger-snapping bravado that matches John Travolta's lovable loan shark, Chili Palmer, and the smoothly delivered, hard-boiled prose of novelist Elmore Leonard.

Director Barry Sonnenfeld and soundtrack producer Karyn Rachtman strike a precarious balance between the old (Lee Morgan, Count Basie) and the new (Us3, Morphine), the familiar (Booker T. and the MG's' "Green Onions") and the unfamiliar (the band's obscure surf-style romp, "Can't Stand Still"), and - most difficult of all - the original score by Lounge Lizards leader John Lurie and the spotlighted songs.

The soundtrack album on Antilles/Verve makes it easy to appreciate how much thought went into creating not just a sound but a motif: Listen to how Us3's "Chilli Hot," with its recurring sample of Jimmy Smith's Hammond-organ riff from his "Funky Broadway," blends with Booker T.'s "Green Onions," or how the loping acoustic bass of Medeski, Martin and Wood's "Chubb's Sub" matches Lurie's "Bo at Airport." Other soundtracks

"Dead Presidents" (Capitol)

With the likes of Isaac Hayes, Barry White, Sly Stone, James Brown, Aretha Franklin and Curtis Mayfield, can it go wrong? Impossible. Sure they're old, but unedited classics like Hayes' "Walk on By," the Dramatics' "Get Up & Get Down" and Al Green's "Tired of Being Alone" demonstrate that the Dr. Dres and D'Angelos of the world have a long way to go. - Cheo H. Coker, Los Angeles Times "Clockers" (MCA)

The music accompanying Spike Lee films often lingers longer than his on-screen images - recall Public Enemy's potent "Fight the Power" opener from "Do the Right Thing"? Here the music offers a thoughtful R&B and rap backdrop with strong efforts by Seal and Marc Dorsey, who create potent poetry out of substance abuse in "People in Search of a Life." Equally effective are Des'ree's "Silent Hero" and Chaka Khan's "Love Me Still." - Heidi Siegmund Cuda, Los Angeles Times

"Mallrats" (MCA)

Let's see: Generous helping of cookie-cutter corporate-alternative acts? Check. Throwaway tunes from a couple of decent bands? Check. Aggravating dialogue shoved between tracks? Check. Sure 'nuff - yet another slice of marketing ingenuity custom-cooked for the young and buzz-clipped.

OK, so once you get past Bush, Weezer and Sponge, you may uncover rollicking little treasures like Archers of Loaf's "Web in Front" or Squirtgun's "Social," which help redeem the sins of the weaker material. But any fun that's to be had is soon spoiled by the series of insufferable, out-of-context comedy snippets lifted from the film. - Brian McCollum, Knight-Ridder Newspapers