On his American debut, 'Too True,' British soul singer Marc V. sounds like Smokey Robinson trapped on a Whitney Houston record. V.'s singing evokes Robinson's insinuatingly sultry style, but the songwriting and production on much of this album show a lack of finesse that's rarely present in Robinson's work. Calculatedly familiar-sounding tracks like "Can't Stop Lovin' You" and "Powerful Love" are beefed up with perfunctory layers of horns, keyboards and drum machines. The result is aural clutter that almost smothers V.'s seductive vocals.

Fortunately, a couple of tracks do rise above the level of assembly-line soul. "Cops and Robbers," a jazzy broadside against youth violence, boasts hooks so sprightly that it's easy to miss the icy cynicism of the lyrics ("But growing up they see every day/That playing fair is only for fools"). But there's no mistaking the belligerence of "House Arrest," a scalding dance track about "a prisoner without a crime." In this song, V. is urged on by the sputteringly defiant trumpet solo of South African great Hugh Masekela. Abandoning his usual restraint, V. asks, "You got yours/So where is mine?"

These moments prove that V. is capable of making music far more incendiary than the adolescent fare that dominates Too True. But with a voice as sweet as his, V. will have to be careful not to succumb to the temptation to keep spinning musical cotton candy. (RS 554)

DAVID KISSINGER