Just when the time seems ripe to capitalize on the fact that De La Soul fired the first shots in the alternative-hip-hop revolution, the Long Island, N.Y., trio opts to wax old school rather than return to the Daisy Age sound that inspired spiritual descendants like Fugees. The problem is that neither of De La's rappers packs enough muscle to carry off the street-hangin', self-aggrandizin' rhymes that trickle between the bass-heavy rhythms of songs like "Supa Emcees" and the auto tribute "Once Again."

The lack of provocative conceptualizing, like the proto-psychedelia of De La Soul's debut, 3 Feet High and Rising, or the biting satire of De La Soul Is Dead, could be overlooked if the album's melodic canvases weren't so barren. While the luscious, Curtis Mayfield-inspired "Sunshine" soars mightily, most of the 17 pieces on Stakes Is High crawl along lifelessly, trailing a wake of assembly-line beats that impart all the exhilaration of a suburban traffic jam.

“All Along the Watchtower”

Jimi Hendrix got hold of Bob Dylan's early John Wesley Harding tapes and in late 1967 recorded a version of "All Along the Watchtower" with the Experience in London. Dissatisfied with that first development, Hendrix brought those tapes with him to New York in early 1968 when he began work on Electric Ladyland. Eddie Kramer, Hendrix's engineer at the time, told Rolling Stone that Hendrix "was still looked upon by his basically white audience as the mammoth black guitar hero. There was a constant fight within him to expand himself." Hendrix's successful take on Dylan's work has long been recognized by the songwriter. "I liked Jimi Hendrix's record of this and ever since he died I've been doing it that way," Dylan wrote in the liner notes to his Biograph box set. "Strange how when I sing it, I always feel it's a tribute to him in some kind of way."