DO THE VOODOO YOU USED TO DO

After uninspiring sales of Steel Wheels" and an abortive nod at the symphonic medium, the Rolling Stones tried to revive the old rhythms for their latest album, "Voodoo Lounge." The album's release just preceded the Stones' tour of the same name, launched last week at Robert F. Kennedy Stadium in Washington.

The first look at "Voodoo" comes, of course, from the jacket. The cover shows a primitive, zombie-like figure in the midst of a Mick Jagger-like shake of the hips. Inside are red-tinted, run-of-the-mill candid shots of Jagger, Keith Richards, Charlie Watts and Ron Wood, looking about as old as the Moody Blues. Then again, Keith has looked like that for the last twenty years.

Conspicuously absent from the jacket is bassist Bill Wyman's replacement, Darryl Jones. He seems relegated to the same fold as the usual round of backup vocalists, keyboardists and horn players. It is true that bass was never the glamor solo position in this particular band. The jacket's centerfold portrays a scene of model skeletons that's a direct rip-off from the Black Crowes' second album, "Southern Harmony."

The new songs, though, are only influence by the three decades of Stones music. The first and perhaps the most highly touted song, "Love Is Strong," finds Mick Jagger more low and guttural than ever before. The repetitive and harsh guitar work and drumming brings to mind Keith Richards' "Wicked As It Seems," which he sang with his solo project, the Expensive Winos. "The Worst," the fifth song on the album, also smacks more of Richards' style. It marks the Stones' most definitive return to their beginnings in the Blues.

Meanwhile, "Sparks Will Fly" contains guitar riffs that hark back to "It's Only Rock and Roll," one of the Stones' major hits of the 70s. One wonders, on "Sparks Will Fly" and especially on "New Faces," what has happened to the screaming, cajoling Jagger that beat past Stones concerts into hurricanes. He sounds like some washed-out country singer (did someone say Johnny Cash?) on these tracks.

"Moon Is Up" ushers Mick in as a Tom Petty sound-alike. Maybe the fidelity on these new-fangled recordings is too high, but Jagger just isn't the same when he's not whining, yelling or being ground into dirt by Richards' hard-driving guitar. The pure, intense noise of concert lightning such as "Start Me Up" and "Sympathy for the Devil" is certainly and sadly gone.

Even on "Out of Tears," a ballad that sounds like it was meant for Top 40 stations across the nation, the Stones can't seem to muster the wrenching desperateness that made "Love in Vain" a slow staple. Luckily, the next song, "I Go Wild," comes to the rescue by managing to pick up a bit of the brashness of the "If You Can't Rock Me." This song also supplies a quick and non incongrous breath of "Gimme Shelter" from Ron Woods' b-bender guitar, two-thirds of the way through.

"BRAND NEW CAR IS probably the most promising new song on "Voodoo Lounge." All the same, it begins with a too-standard blues bass line. The funky horns are a nice addition, but the song doesn't bring blues as far as the easy rumble of "Honky Tonk Women" or the casual calypso flavor of "Crackin' Up."

"Sweethearts Together" plays just as trite as it sounds and doesn't merit much mention. "Suck on the Jugular," however, could be the joint project with Parliament-Funkadelic that never was. The song showcases underwater organ sounds and semi-soulful background vocals (Ivan Neville has a hand in both). These elements bear more than a passing resemblance to those employed by Primal Scream--with George Clinton of P-Funk fame--in "Funky Jam" on their latest album, "Give Out But Don't Give Up."

The remaining songs on the album compose something of a grabbag. "Blinded By Rainbows" highlights, for the umpteenth time on the album, Richards' competent yet distinctively out-of-place acoustic guitar playing. The Stones used to have no trouble finding mixes of acoustic and electric instruments that still rocked like crazy, all the way back to the insertion of sitar in "Paint It Black". Now that particular finesse seems to have dropped by the wayside.

"Baby Break It Down" doesn't have much to offer except some nice fills by Watts. Richards' vocals and guitar on "Thru and Thru" don't quite live up to his success with the recent insta-classic "Eileen," though. "Mean Disposition" brings back Mick the way he is remembered; you can practically hear him strutting. There's no acoustic guitar or accordion nonsense on this track, just guitar, bass, piano and drums pushed along by the blaring voice we all know and love.

"VOODOO LOUNGE" CLEARLY indicates that Richards controls the band's overall direction more than anyone else. It appears to be no coincidence that Mick Jagger hasn't had a real solo smash-hit since "Lucky at Love." The problem is that Jagger just doesn't sound right fronting the Expensive Winos.

The only constant in the whole mess is Charlie Watts' solid, reliable drumming. Never flashy but never too understated, Watts still brings it home with aplomb. Then again, he's never had an extended solo in his whole Stones career. Maybe those jazzy side projects have helped him to stay the course.

Unfortunately for Stones devotees, the feeling that these guys are really far out has disappeared. Where is the haunting space and humming jive of "2000 Lightyears From Home"? Where is the delirium of "Midnight Rambler"? You just can't dance or roar with the new stuff. Dare one suggest that Mick and Keith are too straight and sober these days to truly do justice to their reputation? The creativity and let's-all-blow-this-joint-to-pieces attitude of the Rolling Stones has, woefully, subsided.