Unbelievable [Import Version]

Having lost its way a little in a neutered limbo populated with a volley of faux-chanteuses who appeared post-Britney, it's refreshing to find contemporary R&B beginning to distance itself from the whiter-than-white, squeaky-clean soul lite in favor of getting back to the business of boot-knocking. Twenty-two-year-old Sarah Connor has been touted as something of an Aguilera-beater by Sony, with her debut, Green Eyed Soul, laying down plenty of comparatively explicit lyrical slap and tickle. Quick to realize a good thing when they have it, the label have unleashed this sophomore outing less than a year after the release of its predecessor. Despite something of a menacing Teutonic flavor which her German inflection lends to the pillow talk unwisely scattered amongst the track listing, this slightly disturbing quality thankfully disappears once she starts singing -- with her unarguably powerful voice soaring above the rock-solid production of sometime-Backstreet Boys desk man Bulent Aris. As is par for the course with the genre, ill-advised ballads handicap an album which didn't realistically require 17 tracks, but these slight indiscretions are unlikely to put off fans baying for a second album of Connor's slick pop. ~ Kingsley Marshall