'Addictions' Volume 2 (1992)

Behind his smarmy videos and arch soul pretensions, Robert Palmer is not actually a bad singer. His eclectic choice of material — from R&B to techno-pop — has been questionable at times, but there's no denying the suave charms of that husky voice or the care he puts into making records. Attention to detail is the key to Palmer's second compilation, which is less a greatest-hits set (although it does boast such smashes as ''I Didn't Mean to Turn You On'' and ''You Are in My System'') than a personal scrapbook of his 18-year solo career. Palmer selected 15 songs and tinkered with them: remixing, recutting one vocal, and redoing another track from scratch. Give Palmer credit for second-guessing: ''Addictions'' Volume 2 manages to turn haughty designer soul into an inoffensive, occasionally handsome, coffee-table disc. B-