Discipline (CD - 2008)

After more than a decade with Virgin Records, superstar Janet Jackson moved to the Island label for 2008's DISCIPLINE, an album squarely aimed at restoring the singer's former R&B/pop glory. While the record's title clearly echoes 1986's CONTROL, its sound is wholly 21st century, with Jackson and Def Jam's Antonio "L.A." Reid overseeing of-the-moment producers such as Rodney Jerkins and Ne-Yo, along with Janet's beau, Jermaine Dupri.

The most striking element of DISCIPLINE is its electro sheen, which prominently appears on the album's lead single "Rock With U." Not to be confused with her brother Michael's like-minded hit from 1979's OFF THE WALL, the song is a dreamy dance-floor-oriented number that makes plenty of room for Janet's breathy coo. Other standout tracks include the sassy, Vocoder-tinged "Feedback" and the synth-heavy "Luv," both of which are also custom-made for the club. Easily one of Jackson's most immediately engaging outings, DISCIPLINE is sure to delight longtime fans, and may win over listeners who haven't followed her career since her late-`80s/early-`90s heyday.

A few lines from a couple songs and some suggestive presentation guarantees that a significant amount of the reaction to Discipline, Janet's tenth studio album, will feast upon the singer's lack of judiciousness when it comes to expressing her sexuality. Leave the teasing and explicitness to the teens and younger twenty-somethings -- not the grown women -- right? Janet should get back to making sunny, uncomplicated songs like "Escapade" and pretend that the occasional-to-frequent salaciousness extending back to Control never existed. She should do that and, while she is at it, act her age. (When the three years younger R. Kelly releases his next album, no protests of a similar nature will be heard; ditto whenever the Rolling Stones perform "Brown Sugar.") While Discipline is dressed up like a racy affair with track-to-track titillation, it has only a couple moments where Janet takes the S&M imagery further, and more deeply personal, than she did on The Velvet Rope; the majority of its subject matter relates to the more common elements of relationships. The likes of "Never Letchu Go" (a sweet, glistening ballad), "Luv" (carrying a brisk, feel-good clap-and-bounce), "Rollercoaster" (suitably jittery and giddy), and "Can't B Good" (practically a descendent of her brother Michael's "Can't Help It," with that gentle and affecting self-examination that only a Jackson can do so well) are as innocent, universal, and inviting as anything else in Janet's past. There are two irresistible, grade-A dancefloor tracks as well: the swift, swooning "Rock with U" (that is the correct title) and the more aggressive (as in "let's throw down") "2Nite." The absence of Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis is not felt, not with Ne-Yo, the-Dream, Tricky Stewart, and Stargate stepping up to contribute with established Janet collaborators Johnta Austin, Rodney Jerkins, and of course Jermaine Dupri (who brought Janet with him to Island from Virgin). Janet probably won't hit that late-'80s peak again, but that is no excuse to write her off. ~ Andy Kellman minimize