It is with a heavy heart we write this, but a Phil Collins fan has done the unthinkable and made a pretty good record. "I love his voice and his songs," Brandy said recently. "How can you guys think Phil Collins is uncool?"
Well, how long have you got? But here's the bitter end of Brandy's third album, Track 17, and here's feckless soul hack Ray J duetting with her on 'Another Day In Paradise', Phil's facile groan of sympathy for the homeless. Can someone capable of such an apparently fatal lapse in taste ever be taken seriously?
Afraid so. Brandy, you'll remember, has tiptoed precariously between genius and tat for some time now. A child singing sensation and star of the gosh-darned average sitcom Moesha, she also managed to release one of the best singles of the past five years - 1998's sultry catfight with Monica, 'The Boy Is Mine'. Happily, the writer/producer behind that masterpiece, Rodney 'Darkchild' Jerkins, is back on duty for a fair chunk of 'Full Moon'.
Jerkins has been on a shocking run of late, notably with flashy but lame attempts to revive the careers of Michael Jackson and The Spice Girls. Still, when he's on form like this, few R&B Svengalis can touch him. 'What About Us?', the thumping 21st Century electro single, you'll probably already have heard. But 'I Thought' is very nearly its equal, with Brandy contributing a calmly purposeful vocal over Jerkins' fearsome digi-squelch. At their best, the pair's blend of grace and experimentation is similar to that which made the Aaliyah and Timbaland team so compelling.
Alas, the excellence of Jerkins' tracks also show up the mediocrity of some of Brandy's other material. That execrable Phil Collins cover is in a class of its own, but a handful of makeweight ballads in the latter stages of 'Full Moon' could easily have been excised from the album to make it punchier and more consistent. Judiciously programme your CD player, mind, and you'll have a minor classic of the genre. . . Honestly.
