**1/2 The Slackers

RED LIGHT

(Hellcat)

NYC's Slackers supply tight, sophisticated ensemble playing that yields a unified mix of R&B, rocksteady, pop, reggae, and jazz influences, with a lot of credit going to the deft horn section. The disc features everything from an obligatory tribute to the old school ("Cooking with Tommy," for the Skatalites' Tommy McCook) and bawdy tales of indiscretions ("Married Girl" and the title track) to urban stealth ("Soldier," an eerie description of a cop) and finger-lickin' soul ("Fried Chicken/Mary Mary"), as well as a little tenderness in the heartfelt "I Still Love You." But it's all held together by a skulky presence, a kind of noir ethos that makes the disc more interesting than the frenetic thrash of ska-punk and gives the songs a smoothness lacking in most modern-day (third wave? fourth?) ska.

-- Mark Woodlief

(The Slackers open for the Stubborn All-Stars this Sunday, November 24, at the Middle East. Call 864-EAST.)