-- WORLD-MUSIC ALBUM PROXIMA ESTACION: ESPERANZA Manu Chao (Virgin) Reggae-inflected party music from a Spanish Frenchman never sounded so good. The second CD from the ex-Mano Negra frontman is full of joy and verve.
-- CUTTING-EDGE JAZZ ALBUM BLACK STARS Jason Moran (Blue Note) A forward-thinking young pianist, Moran found the perfect partner in septuagenarian saxophonist Sam Rivers, producing a cross-generational triumph.
-- REISSUE THE LANGLEY SCHOOLS MUSIC PROJECT: INNOCENCE & DESPAIR (Bar/None) High-voiced '70s Canadian grade-schoolers sing ''Rhiannon,'' ''Desperado,'' and other bell-bottom hits. No, we're not kidding. And yes, it's that good -- a sweet, beguiling pop choir.
-- TRADITIONAL COUNTRY ALBUM MOUNTAIN SOUL Patty Loveless (Epic) Honest-to-Jesus, acoustic hillbilly music, performed with fire and grace. Loveless' masterwork throbs with the pride and anguish of a region that refuses defeat.
-- CLASSICAL VOCAL ALBUM ANGELS HIDE THEIR FACES Dawn Upshaw (Nonesuch) Angelic, but poignantly human. Soprano Upshaw brings radiant sincerity to Bach's and Purcell's sublime meditations on love, faith, and redemption.
-- ELECTRONICA ALBUM ROOTY Basement Jaxx (Astralwerks) They love the nightlife, they got to boogie.
-- BOXED SET NUGGETS II: ORIGINAL ARTYFACTS FROM THE BRITISH EMPIRE AND BEYOND, 1964-1969 Various Artists (Rhino) Those alienated by today's soulless pop can tune in and turn on to this galvanizing four-disc set of garage classics. You may never want to listen to anything recorded after 1969 again.
-- SOUNDTRACK HEDWIG AND THE ANGRY INCH (London/Sire) Ziggy would be proud of Stephen Trask's stardust-covered rockers; ''Wicked Little Town'' is the power ballad Andrew Lloyd Webber and Poison both wish they'd written.
-- MAINSTREAM JAZZ ALBUM BLACK DAHLIA Bob Belden (Blue Note) The inventive composer and arranger interprets a gruesome tale of noir Hollywood through sumptuous orchestrations and lean combo playing that put a bracing new spin on 1940s nostalgia.
-- CLASSICAL INSTRUMENTAL ALBUM STRAVINSKY: THE RITE OF SPRING; SCRIABIN: THE POEM OF ECSTASY Valery Gergiev (Philips) Brute force and extreme passions are conductor Gergiev's strong suits. His Rite is a seething cauldron of raw fury; his Poem, a smoldering, hyper-erotic hallucination.
-- VIDEO ''NEW YORK NEW YORK'' Ryan Adams Filmed on Sept. 7, this moving-but-tasteful clip features Adams singing ''I still love you, New York'' in front of the Twin Towers. Neither the song nor the video was intended as a tribute; maybe that's why they're so inspirational.
-- CAST ALBUM BAT BOY -- THE MUSICAL (RCA Victor) Between ''Springtime for Hitler'' and a very special Buffy, it was a swell year for musical send-ups, but the hysterical, inordinately tuneful Bat Boy was the fairest of them all.
-- JAM-BAND ALBUM THE WORD The Word (Ropeadope/Atlantic) Rich, Allman-style instrumentals featuring the North Mississippi Allstars and gospel steel guitarist Robert Randolph, and best summed up by the title of one of their songs: ''Joyful Sounds.''
-- DB, CW, Rob Brunner, Tom Sinclair, Alanna Nash, Steve Futterman, Scott D. Paulin
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