Reba Settles for the Melodrama (**) : REBA McENTIRE; “Read My Mind,” <i> MCA</i>

You’ll need to do what the title says to figure out why McEntire puts so much effort into so many stories of love-starved women wasting time pursuing their dead-end romantic fantasies.

The women in these 10 songs rarely take any initiative in determining the course of their lives. They are passive characters who don’t end up wiser, just sadder.

“She Thinks His Name Was John” is a prime example. From the viewpoint of a woman who still cries herself to sleep every night years after a drunken one-night stand, McEntire sings, “She won’t know love, have a marriage or sing lullabies . . . ‘cause she let a stranger kill her hopes and her dreams.”

McEntire aims for drama, but settles for melodrama. Who knows? Romance-novel readers may find such situations tres romantique. One exception is the punchy, R & B-flavored “I Won’t Stand in Line,” in which the gutsy protagonist snaps a well-deserved ultimatum to a philanderer.

Other performances are soaked in the swelling strings, shimmering synthesizers, Richter-rattling crescendos and vocal acrobatics that have turned this once-gritty country singer into the Liza Minnelli of the Nashville set.

New albums are rated on a scale of one star (poor), two stars (fair), three stars (good) and four stars (excellent).