Deconstruction

Meredity Brooks' first album since her ''Bitch'' of a hit starts strong — with the funky Go-Go-vibed rocker ''Shout'' and an update of Melanie's Woodstock anthem ''Lay Down (Candles in the Rain)'' niftily punctuated by Queen Latifah's galvanizing rap. But then Brooks chameleons, albeit deftly, through sound-alikes of Sheryl Crow, late-'90s Madonna, and (oh so annoyingly) Blondie's rap. Still, at the end of Deconstruction, it's not clear what Meredith sounds like.