Just in case it wasn't obvious why the now-adult members of former teen-R&B sensations New Edition – Bobby Brown, Ralph Tresvant, Johnny Gill, Ricky Bell, Michael "Biv" Bivins and Ronnie DeVoe – have gone Home Again, the reason is spelled out in the album's first single, "Hit Me Off." They blatantly crib from Snoop Doggy Dogg's signature line, "I got my mind on my money and my money on my mind." And with good reason. Brown's and Tresvant's last solo outings were commercial disappointments; Hootie Mack, Bell Biv DeVoe's follow-up to the multiplatinum Poison, stiffed; and Johnny Gill, the most gifted singer in the bunch, is still searching for that smash solo album. For all its slick polish and cool swagger, Home Again is a comeback and reunion built on flop sweat.

Steeped in timidity, the album finds New Edition playing safe at almost every turn. Where Brown once slammed the revolutionary black pop of New Jack Swing into worldwide consciousness on his groundbreaking Don't Be Cruel, and Bell Biv DeVoe electrified the genre with Poison, on Home Again they, along with Gill and Tresvant, retreat into tepid, state-of-the-chart R&B: overwrought instead of passionate, glossy instead of innovative. The album is past the halfway mark before hitting an original idea: Just after the spoken intro to "Something About You," which promises some "country western funk," the twangy-guitar hook from "What I Am," by Edie Brickell and the New Bohemians, kicks in. Although quickly subsumed by formula production, the guitar keeps struggling to break through the tedium.

Only in the heartfelt "One More Day" does the group deliver the goods. Against a gently strummed guitar, the creamy vocal harmonies and soft beats underscore a vulnerable lover's plea. As the singers skillfully play off one another, expressing real emotion in the process, it becomes apparent what wasted opportunities constitute the rest of the disc. While New Edition's blend of voices is instantly identifiable, the group's real strength is in the contrasting styles of its three lead singers. Gill's throaty sound, Tresvant's choirboy purity and Brown's street-wise bravado bring a variety of texture, persona and nuance to the table. It's mind-boggling that none of the A-list R&B producers involved with Home Again – including Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, Sean "Puffy" Combs and Jermaine Dupri – thought to exploit those possibilities. (RS 745)

ERNEST HARDY