On Heroes, The Commodores' tenth album, America's most popular and stylistically amorphous black supergroup spouts the type of singsong "prophecy" that's rapidly becoming one of pop music's deadliest clichés. While inspirational messages can be wonderful – who could resist the intensity of such togetherness anthems as the O'Jays' "Love Train" and Sly Stone's "Everyday People"? – Heroes' sermonettes lack the urgency that might redeem their preachiness. And they're not even very danceable.

The title tune – which solemnly informs us that we are the heroes we're searching for in an unheroic age–is a pep talk that takes itself so seriously it depresses more than it uplifts. "Wake Up Children" utilizes simplistic nursery rhymes about pollution and the fate of man in a genteel pop-funk idiom that has no bite. "Jesus Is Love." by lead singer Lionel Richie Jr., at least boasts a traditional gospel arrangement, albeit an emotionally tepid one. Richie, who wrote "Three Times a Lady," is the Kenny Rogers-cum-Neil Diamond of soul, and not surprisingly, his style of preaching has the depth and decorum of a greeting card. As Richie goes, so go the Commodores. Heroes is as stiff and dull as it is well meaning. (RS 324)

STEPHEN HOLDEN