The Neville Brothers

Contrary to rumor, the drums are almost all live, but they so rarely venture an offbeat that it's a solecism to call the result commercial funk. It's not crossover because the Nevilles have no black/"urban" base to cross over from, and no one's claiming it's New Orleans. Nope--between adult themes, solidly insinuating tunes, uncommonly grizzled vocals, and faint indigenous lilt, what we have here is a pretty damn good CHR album. Too bad "Whatever It Takes" and "Midnight Key" will never prove the durability of their old-love-rekindled and night-lust-unloosed in the crucible of high rotation; too bad "Shak-a-Na-Na"'s second-linish Brit imagism and "Old Habits Die Hard"'s Tops-Tempts-Tavares homage aren't gimmicky enough to push some gatekeeper's everything-old-is-new button. Because this risks the unknown just the way the crass dance-fad novelty "Mardi Gras Mambo" did in 1954. There's aesthetic tension in its craft and blind ambition, and reason to think it'll sound quirkier and realer than Fiyo on the Bayou another 23 years down the line. (Grade: B+)