In Brief

* * Gilby Clarke, “Pawn Shop Guitars,” Virgin. Guns N’ Roses guitarist Clarke and his friends add nothing to the retro hard-rock formula. The cast includes bandmates Slash and Axl Rose--who duets on the Rolling Stones’ “Dead Flowers.” While neither Clarke’s voice nor the songs are exceptional, the album possesses a heartfelt, bar-band quality that makes for agreeable ear candy.

New albums are rated on a scale of one star (poor), two stars (fair), three stars (good) and four stars (excellent).