There's something missing from this third release by the notorious Staten Island rap crew -- and no, we're not talking about the semi-permanently AWOL Ol' Dirty Bastard.

What's missing is unity; the thick-as-thieves brotherhood that characterized their butt-kicking '93 debut Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers). We blame the fact that GZA, Method Man, ODB and Ghostface Killah all became solo stars in the wake of that disc. As a result, like old buds who don't have much in common anymore, they don't have much to say on The W. Most of these raps are listless, lukewarm affairs that could have been phoned in from the back of the limo. True, Conditioner, a whacked-out duet between ODB and Snoop Dogg, the two most doped-up men in rap, is entertaining, but mostly for the wrong reasons. Producer and musical director RZA doesn't help matters.

Aside from a couple of neck-snap jams like Gravel Pit and Protect Ya Neck (The Jump Off), he sticks to the same subwoofer bass throbs and sinister string lines he's used 100 times.

Admittedly, The W is a step up from the bloated 1997 double-disc Wu-Tang Forever, but only because it's less of a bad thing. The Wu need to decide: Is it all for one or every man for himself?

Track Listing 1. Intro (Shaolin Finger Jab)
2. Chamber Music
3. Careful (Click, Click)
4. Hollow Bones
5. Redbull - (featuring Redman)
6. One Blood Under W - (featuring Junior Reid)
7. Conditioner - (featuring Snoop Dogg)
8. Protect Ya Neck (The Jump Off)
9. Let My Niggas Live - (featuring Nas)
10. I Can't Go To Sleep - (featuring Isaac Hayes)
11. Do You Really (Thang Thang)
12. Monument, The - (featuring Busta Rhyme
13. Gravel Pit
14. Jah World - (featuring Junior Reid)