All for You
Unlike those other members of her family, Janet Jackson's  albums are still worth waiting for. The best parts ofAll for  You, her first disc since 1997'sThe Velvet Rope,  continue to display the first-class pop-R&B; talent who broke through  decisively in the mid-'80s with "What Have You Done for Me  Lately" and "Nasty." Jackson's longtime cohorts Jimmy Jam and Terry  Lewis are of course on board, and the production-writing trio  demonstrates its mastery of everything from dirty funk ("You Ain't  Right") to peppy, radio-perfect ("Come on Get Up" and 2000's No. 1  "Doesn't Really Matter") and hypnotically undulating sounds ("When We  Oooo"). While much ofAll for Youis irresistible, its handful  of failures are poorly conceived and executed. Most glaring among these  is "Son of a Gun (I Betcha Think This Song Is About You)," an  unlistenable sequel toRope's "Got 'Til It's Gone" that  substitutes one self-regarding singer-songwriter diva (Carly Simon) for  another (Joni  Mitchell), thereby wrecking Simon's one golden moment, "You're So  Vain." "Son of a Gun" and "Truth" apparently target estranged husband  Rene Elizondo, but Jackson is hardly as convincing a revenge artist as  she is a sex kitten. In fact, the likes of "Love Scene (Ooh Baby)" and  "Would You Mind" out-spice even the carnally obsessedVelvet  RopeandJanet.--Rickey  Wright