Record guide: selected rock and pop releases

These capsule reviews are designed to help readers decide which records to buy. Inclusion does not indicate Monitor endorsement. Further reviews in the rock/pop category - as well as in other categories, such as classical and jazz - are published from time to time.

ROCK/POP

The Platters: ''Platterama.'' SRM-1-4050. The big hits of the Platters are all here, hits you only hear now on ''oldies'' shows. ''The Great Pretender,'' ''Only You'' (the single with which the Platters first broke into popularity), ''Red Sails in the Sunset'' - just the names alone bring back the era when De Sotos came the size of boats and combs were made to part seas of slick hair, at least according to the novelties we make an effort to recall. But if you don't have these songs on battered veterans, ''Platterama'' corrals much of the richness of the Platters' music. To be sure, compared with today's rock, the music sounds corny, but who wants to compare? These songs are tuneful, and they're sung with the smooth confidence and competence of performers who knew what would please the ear.