janet.

by

Janet Jackson

Edit

"Janet" heralds a new Miss Jackson who's come a long way from her cutesy days as Penny on "Good Times." Gone are the robotic dance beats of her last two records. Say farewell to those all-black costumes she constantly wore in her videos. This album shows Janet at her most relaxed, and it features her most mature work at the time. Janet once crooned, "Let's Wait Awhile," but it now seems that she is willing to explore her sexuality, as evidenced in the hot singles "That's the Way Love Goes" and "You Want This." Elsewhere, she dabbles with house ("Throb"), non-drippy ballads ("Again," which is one of her best singles ever), rock ("What I'll Do"), and straightforward pop (the hidden track "Whoops Now"). For all that's good, I have to complain about the handful of unnecessary interludes that pop up in between songs. If they were removed, "janet" would have been a near-flawless record. But as it is, it's still a winning release that shows growth and depth from the most exciting and musically consistent member of the Jackson family.

Actually, three-and-a-half stars...

Eagerly anticipated "superstar" albums often fail to live up to their hype. Thus, the flood of advance notice on �janet.� may have seemed more foreboding than promising. The word went out that Jackson was working with everyone from Chuck D. of Public Enemy to opera star Kathleen Battle, and the material would range from hip-hop to heavy metal to orchestrated ballads. �janet.� had all the earmarks of an album that would try to be all things to all people...

...And in fact that's exactly what it attempts to be. While �janet.� may not be the flawless tour-de-force Jackson had hoped for, in the capable hands of co-producers Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, �janet.� is a funky, adventurous magic carpet ride that hits its target many more times than it misses.

Jam and Lewis are masters of concocting irresistible grooves, and grooves are what �janet.� is all about. They run the gamut from the silky, sultry soul of "That's The Way Love Goes" to the industrial/metal rock of "If," to the funky disco party that is "You Want This."

The album�s more experimental tracks are its high points. When opera diva Kathleen Battle lays her soaring soprano over the funky bottom of "This Time," the song takes on an eerie, emotional edge that mirrors the confusion, pain, and eventual triumph of the female subject.

Chuck D.'s distinctive rap lends an air of street authenticity to "New Agenda," a song about solidarity and pride among black women. Another winner is "What'll I Do," a retro-'60s track on which Jackson does her best Diana Ross impersonation. The song lifts the "Hey hey hey/ That's what I say" chorus from the Rolling Stones' "Satisfaction" to good effect.

At the time of its 1993 release, much was made of the fact that �janet.� is the first musical representation of a grown-up, very sexual Janet Jackson � a point that was made primarily for publicity. The famous cover shot featuring a topless Jackson, her breasts cupped by the hands of an out-of-frame male (okay, I�ll admit it� it was me) is an appropriate visual for an album that often tries too hard to be sexy. With lyrics that merely tease, songs like "If," "Throb," and "The Body That Loves You" are neither daring nor particularly titillating. Even Jackson's paean to voyeurism, "Any Time, Any Place" can't keep a listener interested for more than half its seven-minute length.

Lyrics are the weakest link throughout the album. That fact becomes very evident on the ballads, where no Jam/Lewis-generated grooves can hide their banality. Unfortunately, the final third of �janet.� consists mainly of ballads. The best of the bunch, "Again," was featured in Jackson's film "Poetic Justice."

For the most part, Jackson�s voice strikes the right balance between playfulness and sensuality, but one wonders how much of this album reflects Jackson's input and how much is Jam's and Lewis's. Production certainly plays a big role in the success of this album.

From her �Control� album on, Janet Jackson made a point of recording music that more fully reflected her personality and views. As tasty as it is, in that regard, �janet.� offers listeners little more than ear candy.