Timeless (CD - 2008)

Personnel: Kenny Lattimore (vocals); Sherrod Barnes (guitar, wah-wah guitar); Ira Siegel (guitar, sitar); John Smith (acoustic guitar); Mark Gross (alto saxophone); Keith Loftis, Everette Harp (tenor saxophone); Jason Marshall (baritone saxophone); George Fontenette (trumpet, programming, drum programming); Saunders Sermons (trombone); Barry Eastmond (Fender Rhodes piano, keyboards); Chedrick Mitchell (organ); John Anderson (synthesizer); Dustin Moore, Jerry Barnes (bass guitar); Michael White , Omar Hakim, Ralph Rolle, Willburn "Squidley" Cole (drums); Gordon Williams (percussion, programming); Rafael Padilla, Bashiri Johnson (percussion); Amanda Dandy, Tabetha Dandy, Tamika Peoples, Eddie Cole (background vocals).

Audio Mixers: Gordon Williams; Ray Bardani.

Arrangers: Kenny Lattimore; Barry Eastmond.

Kenny Lattimore's suave, loverman croon is always a balm for the ears, and on TIMELESS, the artist's 2008 covers album, he sounds smoother than ever. Lattimore's choice of songs is satisfying (Aretha Franklin's "Ain't No Way," Stevie Wonder's "It Ain't No Use"), and at times surprising (his treatment of Jeff Buckley's "Everybody Here Wants You" is one of the album's standouts). But the singer doesn't rely on just the familiarity of the tunes to carry the album; his performances--sensual, sensitive, and creamy as spun butter--are topnotch throughout, and the whole is given a sweet, adult urban contemporary twist.

Timeless isn't so much a case of "Hasn't he done this before?" as it is a case of "So...this must be what he does now." Unless you count the gospel half of 2006's Uncovered/Covered, one of the two albums Lattimore has recorded with wife Chanté Moore, he has not released an album of new material since 2001's Weekend. That Timeless is another set lacking in fresh material must be a point of soreness for the singer's fans, but, taken on its own, the disc is hardly worth disregarding. Lattimore's selections for covers are, once again, balanced between certified classics and pleasantly surprising picks that will always be in need of more attention, and they span decades. He does Michael Henderson and Norman Connors particularly proud on "You Are My Starship" -- tied with L.T.D.'s "Love Ballad" and Marvin Gaye's "I Want You" as the male-led mid-'70s soul ballad -- even teasing out a little more vulnerability from the original. Given Lattimore's gently soaring and unforced falsetto, Jeff Buckley's "Everybody Here Wants You" is the most inspired choice of the set, his light accents enhancing (rather than bogging down) the performance. When done live, garments will no doubt shower the stage. The set could have used another upbeat track or two -- a swagger-packed "That's the Way Love Is" is a standout -- and a couple tracks are either tentative or dry ("And I Love Her," "Ain't No Way"). ~ Andy Kellman minimize