Speedy Odyssey : Check List ****<i> Great Balls of Fire</i> ***<i> Good Vibrations</i> **<i> Maybe Baby</i> *<i> Running on Empty </i>

**YNGWIE J. MALMSTEEN’S RISING FORCE. “Odyssey.” Polydor. Malmsteen maintains probably the highest notes-per-second ratio of any hard-rock guitar hero around, but has teamed here with veteran belter Joe Lynn Turner in an apparent effort to court a far broader audience--including radio programmers. It’s as if Yngwie J. (that ever-present initial presumably keeps us from getting him confused with all the other Yngwie Malmsteens) decided man does not live by blurry-fingered fret runs alone. Of course, the speedy Swede still reels of torrents of notes on such rip-roaring rockers as the thankfully brief instrumental “Bite the Bullet” and the appropriately-titled “Faster Than the Speed of Light.” But on nine of the LP’s 12 tracks, Turner supplies lyrics (albeit some that even Shirley MacLaine might find too spacey) and an assortment of vocal styles from gruff shouting all the way to lush, shimmering Styx-like singing. Which has boosted Malmsteen music a notch to where there are now entire moments that are actually tolerable.