In this pre-holiday season when the monster album releases are arriving almost weekly, it`s time to make way for Godzilla:

Michael Jackson `s new album, ''Dangerous'' (Epic), will show up in record stores on Tuesday.

Jackson is a man on a mission; he has indicated many times that he wants more than anything to become the top-selling artist of all time. In the `80s, he sold more records than any other artist (a reported 110 million), and

''Dangerous'' has already racked up retail orders of nearly 4 million.

The numbers are impressive. But by framing his greatest personal ambition in purely public terms, Jackson makes albums that are statements not so much about him but about the marketplace.

Which is why ''Dangerous'' is a curiously unfulfilling album. It is well- made and at times irresistible, but emotionally hollow.

Jackson has never developed an artistic persona with the depth of, say, Prince or Bruce Springsteen , performers whose record sales have occasionally approached Michaelmania proportions in the last decade.

Both those artists give the indication of following their muse down whatever dark or misguided path it might lead, and occasionally pay the price with relatively modest record sales (Prince`s ''LoveSexy'' and Springsteen`s

''Nebraska'' come to mind).

Rather than dig beneath the surface, Jackson rearranges it. He experiments with his image every few years: changing his hair style, the shape of his nose, even the color of his skin. The music is just as calculated and superficial.

Although portrayed in the gossip columns as an isolated, out-of-touch entertainer, an eccentric who operates in a vacuum, Jackson is more like a human satellite dish tuned to the world, an artist who thrives on synthesis and synergy.

He`s extremely attentive to what`s happening in pop music, what records the kids are buying and why. His solo albums since ''Off the Wall'' in 1979 work well-crafted variations on what`s hot, and ''Dangerous'' is no different. It`s a musical textbook on reaching listeners and radio stations of all persuasions. Its 14 songs, spanning 77 minutes, touch on or combine myriad styles: rhythm and blues, rap, metal, rock, gospel, funk.

The best tracks are the half-dozen that open the album, all produced in collaboration with Teddy Riley, widely acknowledged as the inventor of ''new jack swing.''

This style-a combination of slamming rhythms and sophisticated vocals-has dominated black pop the last few years. Leading the charge have been Riley-produced hits by the likes of Keith Sweat, Bobby Brown, the Winans, Hi-Five and Riley`s own group, Guy.

''Dangerous'' takes Riley`s innovations to a new level, with its rich, propulsive mix of synthetic percussion and keyboards.

Unconventional rhythmic hooks abound: sleigh bells on ''Jam''; a kitchen being ransacked, complete with breaking glass and plates, during ''In the Closet''; and what sounds like a thousand shoes with sandpaper soles nimbly tapping and rubbing against the pavement on ''Can`t Let Her Get Away.''

To fill the gaps in between beats, Riley turns his keyboards into an orchestra. On ''Remember the Time,'' he drops bass bombs underneath a carnival-organ melody, while sculpting sonic ice castles out of suspended chords.

Jackson, in turn, uses multi-tracking to turn his voice into a one-man choir. In ''Why You Wanna Trip on Me,'' his angry lead vocal springs off a cushion of velvety background harmonies, while on ''Remember the Time,''

several lead voices play tag.

Together, Jackson and Riley create state-of-the-art body music. But when Riley disappears in favor of other producers halfway through, the album loses its momentum and focus, becoming an erratic mix of mawkish ballads, mushy metal and mildly intriguing gospel.

''Heal the World'' builds with all the finesse of a Barry Manilow composition-subdued beginning, big finish, ''We are the World'' remade as a soft-drink commercial.

''Will You Be There'' is a hymn, ''Keep the Faith'' a gospel shouter, both recorded with the Andrae Crouch Singers. The last nearly revives the last half of the album, as Jackson and the choir play a fiery game of call-and-response.

Guns N` Roses` guitarist Slash lends some stately power chords to ''Give in to Me,'' Jackson`s attempt to invade the artistically bankrupt, but commercially viable, power-ballad terrain of Extreme, Warrant and Poison.

Slash also provides the intro to ''Black or White''; the song could have used his fire throughout, because its spare hip-hop groove is driven by a guitar riff recycled from a 1983 Rolling Stones track, ''It Must Be Hell.''

The album`s lyrics are equally generic, and can be roughly broken down into four categories: ''Let`s dance,'' ''She`s hot,'' ''She`s bad for me but I can`t resist her,'' and ''Save the world before it`s too late.''

Clues as to just what might be going on in the mind of Michael Jackson are oblique and scattered. Ironically, two of the album`s more personal lyrics-''Why You Wanna Trip on Me'' and ''Gone Too Soon''-weren`t even written by Jackson.

The first repeats a theme that Jackson briefly explored in 1987 on the self-explanatory ''Leave Me Alone,'' and recasts it as a plea for solving the world`s problems. In the second, Jackson muses that we`re gonna miss him when he`s gone: ''Born to amuse, to inspire, to delight/Here one day/Gone one night.''

Only at the end of ''Will You Be There,'' for which Jackson wrote the lyrics, does he show signs of letting down his guard, as he converses with God in a trembling voice: ''Everyone`s taking control of me/Seems that the world`s/Got a rule for me/I`m so confused.''

By the end of the album, so is the listener.

In trying to please everyone, Jackson stretches his immense talent over too wide a musical canvas. With its one-track-for-every-taste mentality,

''Dangerous'' slavishly caters to its audience while revealing next-to-nothing about its maker.

Instead of enhancing the mystery and artistic aura that surround Michael Jackson, ''Dangerous'' raises the question of why anyone should care.

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Rating for ''Dangerous'': (STAR) (STAR)