Lilith Fair, Sarah McLachlan's magical sisterly tour, was last summer's biggest success story. To tide fans over until June, when it begins anew, there is Lilith Fair: A Celebration of Women in Music, a live double CD featuring twenty-five artists, from the big girls (Paula Cole, Shawn Colvin, Joan Osborne) to the up-and-comers (Abra Moore, Tara MacLean).

Perhaps to offset the fest's strummin'-and-hummin' image, a fair number of the songs on Lilith Fair are powerhouses. Cole's soaring, pulse-pounding "Mississippi" proves why she was the festival's breakout star. The Cardigans' "Been It," a cool, pop-y reproach on record, is all big guitars and Nina Persson's wailing vocals here, and it rocks satisfyingly. Ditto the Indigo Girls' "Scooter Boys," a high-octane hootenanny of furious strumming and urgent vocals, and Abra Moore's jazzy, sultry "Four Leaf Clover."

On the gentler tip, Lisa Loeb's "Falling in Love" is simple and poignant. "The time between meeting and finally leaving is sometimes called falling in love," she sings in a clear, sweet voice, accompanied by only acoustic guitar and Emmylou Harris' harmonies. McLachlan's smooth, serene "Building a Mystery" glimmers, as does her teaming with Jewel and the Indigo Girls' blending voices on "Water Is Wide." (Interestingly, this is Jewel's only appearance on the CD.) Harris is hauntingly beautiful, as always, in "Going Back to Harlan." Colvin's "Trouble," a more obscure number from her 1996 album A Few Small Repairs, is quietly affecting. "Trouble," she sings matter-of-factly, "is like a friend to me."

There are downers, such as France's Autour de Lucie. Their wooden "Sur Tes Pas" was probably when most people headed to the Porta-Johns. Canadian folkie Dayna Manning's cringe-inducing "I Want" ("I want a house with a big back deck/And I want to come home with a big paycheck") is a saccharine child's poem, and Dar Williams' squishy "What Do You Hear in These Sounds" resembles something Ally McBeal would sing on amateur night ("When I talk about therapy, I know what people think/That it only makes you selfish and in love with your shrink").

Still, for the most part, this is a solid, thoughtfully organized primer of what's happening in the world of female folk and adult pop. And even if you hear this album and decide that Ozzfest is really more your bag, be consoled by the fact that fifty percent of Lilith Fair's proceeds go to charity. (RS 787)

JANCEE DUNN