'Bout It
In an age of overstuffed albums, it's easy to applaud the self- control that led new-soul stylist Jesse Powell to limit his second CD,'Bout It, to nine songs. Or is that a lack of material? Powell's strong, Stevie Wonder-like voice is mostly wasted on these tracks, which too often recycle familiar grooves (Usher could easily do his "You Make Me Wanna..." dance to the first single, "I Wasn't With It") and hackneyed pleas ("I Can Tell," "Are You Missin' My Love?") to poor effect. The presence of elevator-jazz sax man Gerald Albright on "You" is the last straw.--Rickey Wright