On his first album in five years, James Taylor doesn't sound contemporary — and he seems very unworried by that fact. October Road reunites him with Russ Titelman, producer of 1975's Gorilla and '76's In the Pocket. Their approach here is much the same — delivering classic singer-songwriter fare laced with easy jazz and mellow R&B. Yet the result is much more subtle than those peak-era LPs; what's more, October Road is a hit album without any obvious hit songs.

At a time when veteran stars are routinely propped up with upstart guests and gimmicky grooves, Taylor and Titelman's tasteful restraint is refreshing and suits such contemplative tracks as "Belfast to Boston." The singer's unhurried acoustic guitar picking and calm, steady croon are — as they should be — the album's central joys.

“Too Close”

Next was formed in Minneapolis when the uncle of Terry "T-Low" and Raphael "Tweety" Brown, who was a gospel choir director, introduced the brothers to Robert Lavelle "R.L." Huggar. Sounds of Blackness singer Ann Nesby groomed the R&B group before handing them over to Naughty by Nature's KayGee, who wrote and produced "Too Close." The idea for the song was sparked "from a conversation we had with several girls at a nightclub," explained T-Low. "It's talking about the club scene, with guys getting out of hand and the female telling him to back up, asking, 'What are you doing?'"