Album review

Babyface

"Grown & Sexy"

(Arista)

The veteran R&B singer-songwriter and producer`s first collection in four years focuses on the joys and travails of established relationships. Babyface`s smooth tenor is still up to the task, but the bland sentiments, occasionally wince-inducing lyrical cliches and nearly unrelenting mid-tempo pace make for a mighty monotonous 52 minutes.

"Tonight It`s Goin` Down" sets a candlelit mood with its soulful, hip-hop-flavored anticipation of romance, while the syrupy ballad "Mad, Sexy, Cool" celebrates a perfect (in mind, body, and soul) partner, and "Can`t Stop Now" captures the heat of the make-out moment.

But this mature eroticism is undone by overwrought production, eventually drowning every track in layers of instrumentation, vocals and other sonic drama.

At least there`s humor in "Goin` Outta Business," which pulls the plug on a mooching girlfriend (no more designer duds or cable TV for her). But even that lacks convincing swagger.

Faith Hill

"Fireflies"

(Warner Brothers)

Forget "Fireflies." Hill should have titled her new album "My Apology."

Almost everything about the CD feels like a reaction to the widespread complaints that her last collection, 2002`s "Cry," sacrificed country character in pursuit of pop crossover sales.

As this album shows, Hill did some serious soul-searching. She listened to hundreds of songs, and that paid off in at least six cases, including "Mississippi Girl," a get-back-to-my-roots exercise co-written by John Rich (of the hot duo Big & Rich) and Adam Schoenfeld.

No one is going to mistake the chorus for something Bob Dylan wrote, but it gets the point across to those she alienated:

And some people seem to think that I`ve changed That I`m different than I was back then But in my soul I know that I`m the same way

That I`ve really always been.

And the move has apparently worked. Country radio has embraced "Mississippi Girl" with the enthusiasm they showed for many of Hill`s pre-"Cry" recordings.

But too much of the 14-track album is sabotaged by corny or cliched rhymes and images. The title tune, by Lori McKenna, is awash with mentions of "a fairy princess" and "frogs" called "Prince" and Peter Pan and miracles. Darrell Scott`s socially conscious "We`ve Got Nothing but Love to Prove" aims at being a sort of country "Imagine," but Scott`s clearly no Merle Haggard, much less John Lennon.

Hill should take a brief bow for rebounding from the hollow "Cry," but she still has a long way to go to reflect the country character of Emmylou Harris, Alison Krauss, Lucinda Williams and the Dixie Chicks. If Hill wants to be an artist rather than just a star, a lot more soul-searching is in order.

The Los Angeles Times