Released in America 17 months ago, this second album from the Tennessee-born singer had a difficult birth. If the instinctive response to an artist's troubles with a (usually major) record company is to blame the label, well, sometimes that merits reassessment. Greenwood's battle with DreamWorks led him to buy himself out of his contract when the label balked at his second album. But repeated listens to its mishmash of blues, hip-hop, reggae, R&B and pop fail to support Greenwood's implicit contention that he was wronged. It is, quite simply, all over the place, but not in a way that intrigues or jolts. Instead, platitude- and slogan-stuffed ramblings such as D'Artagnan's Theme and Penitentiary make the similarly laid-back Jack Johnson sound positively focused.
Arista