Former Guess Who mainstay Burton Cummings emerges on his first solo album as a nouveau riche smoothie with enough smarts to lay the groundwork for a lucrative MOR future. And to help effect the transition, he has found the ideal producer in Richard Perry, whose classy arrangements, with their punched up drums, add a dramatic backdrop to very ordinary songs and vocal performances. While Cummings'...

Burton Cummings' voice oozes insincerity without the saving grease of irony. One of the most technically impressive singers in rock, Cummings can effortlessly fatten or attenuate his timbre, fluff up or toughen his tone, chime or whine. His melismata are extraordinarily fluid, his rhythmic ease is debonair. It's a shame such splendid vocal chords have so little to communicate.

The only genuine...