QUEEN-SIZE EXPECTATIONS

A PERFECT WORLD (Warner Bros./Reprise Records) * The Challenge: Capturing the feel of rural Texas, circa 1963. Director Clint Eastwood originally thought about hiring such contemporary artists as Lyle Lovett and Chris Isaak to cover that year's top 30 country & western tunes, then opted to go with original versions by the likes of Johnny Cash. Undeterred, Isaak (a Reprise artist) cut five songs with his own money anyway. Two of the tunes were used, one of which, "Dark Moon," is the soundtrack's single. "His songs were so perfectly suited to the period that they fit with the older music," says David Valdes, World's coproducer. Adds Isaak: "I did them the way I would for my own album. I guess I'm so outdated it doesn't matter." * The Next Queen: Perry Como, whose "Catch a Falling Star" could do for A Perfect World what Jimmy Durante's "As Time Goes By" did for Sleepless in Seattle: give the soundtrack a surprise hit.