Maxwell

With his 1996 debut, good-looking soul man Maxwell sought to create a style of seductive, bedroom-ready R&B that could incorporate pop, funk, jazz, and hip-hop, as though he were some kind of postmodern Marvin Gaye. Maxwell's laid-back romanticism has heat at its core and a powerful groove that grounds the music: By varying the push of the beat but retaining the central mellow vibe, Maxwell creates a sound as felicitous on headphones as it is in the bedroom. Song after song explores the long-dormant possibilities of gentlemanly sexuality, from the kindly "Welcome" to the generous hit "Ascencion (Don't Ever Wonder)" to the come-ons of ". . . Til the Cops Come Knockin'."

Unfocused and pretentious, Embrya did not match the success of Maxwell's impressive debut. The album is full of overwrought, underwritten songs with obscure, fancy titles revolving around a sort of sexual gnosticism. He still has his songcraft and beauti-ful, subtle voice, but the burbling Latin vibe of "I'm You: You Are Me and We Are You (Pt Me & You)," doesn't change the fact that the song is called "I'm You: You are Me and We Are You (Pt. Me & You)," or that the lyrics, half in Spanish, are correspondingly obfuscatory. Despite Maxwell's plunge into the mysteries of desire and the complicated, arcane images he finds to describe them, the songs are disappointingly alike, a single unchanging rhythm arranged around a slow-whipping soul groove marked with traditional touches -- pauses for hand claps and spare piano vamping, sexy strings, muted horns, and a low-popping bass.

Now moved whatever was brewing in Embrya into the realm of the present and listenable, but not back to Urban Hang Suite's winning formula of bedroom music for the intelligent lover. An expert in crafting smooth, '70s-style love songs -- to a point where he seems to be doing it in his sleep -- Maxwell has always prized groove over tune. But here he's writing real songs, slow-dance numbers and candlelight sing-alongs, like the mid-tempo "Changed" and the great single "W/As My Girl," a mellow yearner that kicks off each verse with the singer rushing the line, "Turn the lights down low." Now even incorporates the dance floor on the snappy, horn-spiked "Get to Know Ya"; the rueful, bass-heavy "No One," with Maxwell's satiny tenor in full effect; and the hot-to-trot "Temporary Nite." His avant-garde leanings are ably served with a cover of Kate Bush's "This Woman's Work," in which his tender falsetto sparkles. (ARION BERGER)

From 2004's The New Rolling Stone Album Guide