By alternately sounding like other singers (a little like Marvin Gaye, a little like Smokey Robinson, or a little like Prince, as the mood dictates), Al B. Sure! achieves that most derivative of mass-media goals, a highly polished lack of distinction. If he keeps this up, he'll be a potent, if vague, force in the generic funk-lite arena — no particular thing to all men.
The first half of Private Times...and the Whole 9! largely reproduces the falsetto R&B tones of ''Nite and Day,'' the biggest hit from Sure!'s 1988 smash In Effect Mode. Songs like ''Touch You'' are competent if innocuous manifestations of the waterbed sensibility — perfect background music for somebody else's evening à deux. The second half mostly funks it up in a more '90s style. While no tune is especially striking, a few have a notable quality or two: ''So Special'' recalls ''Nite and Day,'' and ''No Matter What You Do'' features Diana Ross at her most breathlessly soprano. As for this year's inexplicable '70s cover (In Effect Mode's was a syrupy ''Killing Me Softly''), you get a double shot of Don Henley's love with not one but two mixes of ''Hotel California,'' a dubious distinction, to B. Sure. C-
Add your comment
The rules: Keep it clean, and stay on the subject or we might delete your comment. If you see inappropriate language, e-mail us. An asterisk * indicates a required field.