'IN MY OWN WORDS'

'IN MY OWN WORDS'
Ne-Yo (Def Jam)
Grade: B
Somewhere between the salaciousness of R. Kelly and the heartsick romanticism of Stevie Wonder you'll find a most soulful Ne-Yo. At 23, the bump-'n'-grinding but mindful crooner has written hits for Mario, B2K and Musiq, but he has saved the bedroom-smooth best for himself.
Sure, songs such as "Stay" (featuring Peedi Crack), the snarkishly charming and coy "When You're Mad" and heated tracks such as "Mirror" make getting it on a spectator sport. But an O'Jays-sampled "Get Down Like That" and the spare, slick lament that is "So Sick" take monogamy beyond the call of duty -- so much so that when love goes awry, Ne-Yo's made ill on "Sick" by every love song on the radio.
Bet he wouldn't be so nauseous if he heard one of his own.
A.D. Amorosi, Philadelphia Inquirer
'PIRATE RADIO'
The Pretenders (Rhino)
Grade: A
It's about time! This stunning four-CD, single-DVD box set documenting the best moments of one of rock's finest bands may be long overdue, but it's worth the wait.
"Pirate Radio" contains all the hits you'd expect, including "Stop Your Sobbing," "Brass In Pocket [I'm Special]," "Message Of Love," Back on the Chain Gang" and "Middle of the Road," plus some tough-to-find rarities and previously unreleased studio and live tracks. The DVD features British television performances and some never-seen concert footage.
Few would say that the Pretenders ever topped the glory and majesty of their first album, but you'll find much to love from the band's entire catalog, all the way up to their latest release, "Loose Screw" (2003).
Martin Bandyke, Detroit Free Press
'YOUNG FOR ETERNITY'
The Subways (Sire Records)
Grade: B
"Young For Eternity" is by no means the unconditional triumph championed by the British media (is anything?), but the record is a solid debut that glistens with ample potential for the fledgling trio.
Released in America by Seymour Stein's boutique Sire label, the album is a briskly paced trip through virtually every recent rock style of note.
The London-bred outfit seems to have absorbed and reprocessed the musical phenomena that have dominated their radios the past decade: Oasis, Supergrass, the Darkness, the Music, even the White Stripes.
The album's opening track, "I Want to Hear What You Have Got to Say," is a bit deceptive, rolling in rock crunch but minus the hooks that surface elsewhere, as on the pop-punky second cut "Holiday," the big-rock roar of "No Goodbyes," or the sing-along sizzle of the album's best song, "Rock & amp; Roll Queen."
The album is polished but not fake, loud and sometimes growling but somehow pleasantly affable.
Brian McCollum, Philadelphia Inquirer
'DEVO 2.0'
Devo 2.0 (Disney Sound)
Grade: C
Thanks to Disney Sound records, "Devo 2.0" resurrects the group's original members and also inserts five kids (ages 10-13) into the singing parts. The old guys re-recorded 10 of their most popular songs (rather faithfully, though there's some lyrical tweaking), and Nicole, Jackie, Kane, Michael and Nathan step in with aptly robotic vocalizations.
The Disneyfication of Devo isn't the worst indiscretion by a once-worthy band: Devo fans with prepubescent kids will surely get some satisfactory bonding time when they share "Devo 2.0" with their offspring. And those children will connect both with the young singers and the joyous innocence that was always at the core of Devo's synthetic sound.
Plus, although every original version is better than every overhaul offered by "Devo 2.0," the group's most momentous songs -- particularly "Whip It," "That's Good" and "Freedom of Choice" -- remain contagious despite the kiddie treatment.
Yet it's tough as an adult to hear this thing through without feeling vicarious mortification for original band members Mark Mothersbaugh, Gerald V. Casale, Bob Mothersbaugh and Bob Casale, particularly when they plow through their aberrational new songs "Cyclops" and "The Winner," which seem beneath even lead singer Nicole.
Chris Campbell, Scripps Howard