Anthony Hamilton

It's difficult to imagine a bad Anthony Hamilton album. Still, The Point of It All seems like the end of a long winning streak. With its bobbing beat, tight guitar figure and guest verse from David Banner, "Cool" is charming but conventional, while "Diamond in the Rough" and the title track twinkle like the worst MOR soul. The gospel-baked blues style that distinguished the singer is still present, and there's certainly plenty of material for longtime fans to covet, but the album feels a little less cohesive and thus less satisfying than previous work.

Most of today's gold-plated R&B stars are ideally suited to economic boom times. Anthony
Hamilton is a down-home sort: a man to help you muddle through a recession. "We don't
have to worry 'bout no groceries/We can fill up on love alone," he sings on "Cool," from his
sixth album. The least flashy of the neosoul singers that emerged in the Nineties, Hamilton
still has a Seventies jones (check out the Curtis Mayfield impersonation in "The N... More >