POP STARS ***** Great Balls of Fire **** Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door *** Good Vibrations ** Maybe Baby * Ain’t That a Shame

LISA LISA & CULT JAM “Straight to the Sky.” Columbia **

Lisa Lisa, the high priestess of hip-hop, flounders this time. Each of her first two albums was loaded with excellent cuts, but after two top-notch tracks, “Little Jackie Wants to Be a Star” and “Just Git It Together,” “Sky” suffers a huge drop in quality. The Full Force production team dresses up the so-so songs with high-tech razzle-dazzle, but can’t camouflage all the structural flaws. The

grooves on the dance tunes--which make up the bulk of the album--are sizzling, even when the vocals and lyrics are sub-par. “Dance Forever” is an example of a song with a superb rhythm track and not much else. And instead of her usual emotional and conviction-filled singing, Lisa Lisa sounds shrill and aloof most of the time, resembling a bargain-basement Diana Ross.