Listen Up: RB star Ginuwine gathers subtler 'Thoughts'
Ginuwine has always been a smooth purveyor of steamy slow jams, but here the sex involves more emotional entanglement, and that can lead to complications.
He finds himself dropping his macho posturing on Last Chance. Recognizing he has one shot to keep her, he makes like "Jordan, fourth quarter in '92." A situation that once would have been shrugged off now calls for heroic pleading. Elsewhere, he makes the case for an enduring affair on One Time for Love and for sticking it out on Even When I'm Mad. Sometimes, things just can't be fixed, as he confesses on Lying to Each Other: "I'd rather watch cable than see you with a negligee on." Such frank lyrics are convincing, but it gets corny when he tries salacious musical metaphors on Orchestra.
The simmering tempo is interrupted only by the percolating Get Involved, which reunites him with early mentors Timbaland and Missy Elliott. It's like a sunny commercial break in the middle, before regular programming resumes. — Jones
Download: Last Chance, One Time for Love, Even When I'm Mad
Skip:Orchestra
AMONG OTHER NEW ALBUMS:
Kendel Carson, Alright Dynamite
* * * ½ COME-HITHER COUNTRY
AMONG OTHER NEW ALBUMS:
Kendel Carson, Alright Dynamite
* * * ½ COME-HITHER COUNTRY
Carson likes clothes, even if she's not always wearing them. The 24-year-old Canadian singer starts her second album naked. By the second song, she's at least partially dressed, since she's soaking in the stare of a guy whose eyes have fixated on her belt buckle. Her playful, powerful sexuality is rare among country singers — she's the kind of woman who could compel men to buy her lacy clothing, then would hit them up for cowboy boots, too. — Mansfield
Download: Belt Buckle, I Don't Wanna Be Your Mother
Pete Yorn,Back Fourth
* * * LOVER'S LAMENT
Noted DIY'er Yorn took a different tack for his fourth album, holing up in Nebraska with Bright Eyes producer Mike Mogis and a band. The new blood infuses Yorn's tunes with new ideas, though many of the songs could be boiled down to acoustic guitar and mandolin, their stories lovely and ephemeral and bittersweet like a summertime romance. — Mansfield
Download: Don't Wanna Cry, Last Summer, Country
Regina Spektor, Far
* * * QUIRKY, ARTY PIANO POP
Spektor explores mundane topics — finding a wallet, forgetting the words to a favorite song — with insightful, revealing detail. Or she tackles big subjects — technological dehumanization, responses to the presence of God — with simple lyrics that break them down into manageable pieces. She breaks so many pop conventions that she forces listeners to give her their full attention or tune her out entirely. — Mansfield
Download: Laughing With, The WalletSkip: Blue Lips
Al B. Sure!, Honey I'm Home
* * ½ BLAST FROM THE PAST
Not everybody would be bold enough to put an exclamation point to their name, but as a New Jack Swing-era crooner in the late '80s, Sure! sure generated plenty of excitement. Hearing his new single, I Love It (Papi Aye Aye Aye, it's hard to believe it has been 15 years since his smooth falsetto last graced the airwaves. He should still appeal to old fans, and maybe win some new ones. — Jones
Download: Only You, 4 Life, Whatcha GotSkip: Fragile
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