Platinum & Gold Collection

Conveniently front-loaded with the group's four most popular hits -- "Too Close," "I Still Love You," "Butta Love," and "Wifey" -- Next's surprising but helpful addition to the Platinum & Gold Collection series renders each of their three studio albums unnecessary. Though this only has three albums to cull from, the group was always more singles-oriented than album-oriented, so the fact that this disc exists makes plenty of sense. Amid the other male R&B groups that took in heavy hip-hop influences and got unapologetically raunchy in the process, Next hardly made the biggest of splashes, but the fact that a dozen of their tracks can be put together without cheating the consumer is commendable. ~ Andy Kellman