Record review: Usher, "Here I Stand"

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By L. KENT WOLGAMOTT / GZO

Note to Usher: Just because you can put 72 minutes of music on a CD doesn’t mean you have to.

Nor is there ever a reason to put the same song on a record twice -- even if it’s as good as “Love In This Club,” a surging, highly sexed dance number that’s presented once with contributions from Young Jeezy and once with Beyonce and Lil’ Wayne.

That said, “Here I Stand” is another step forward for Usher, whose last record, “Confessions,” came out four years ago and marked a transition from teen star to very adult entertainer. Now Usher’s married and a dad -- and that means, thematically, “Here I Stand” has to try to find a balance between his family and the expected R&B-artist-as-playa persona.

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Appropriately, Usher’s most often singing about commitment,  pledging “I Will Work For Love” and dedicating the quiet “Prayer for You” to his young son, Usher Raymond V.

But, as “Love In The Club” effectively demonstrates, he can also still get down and dirty.

“This Ain’t Sex,” tries to combine the two themes, with Usher crooning about how the sex he lustfully describes is more than just sex -- but it isn’t quite romantic either.

Regardless of what he is saying, Usher has come up with some superb music, classic R&B with just enough hip-hop to be credible and contemporary. He’s never sung better and the hooks of the best of the songs really do reel you in.

There’s just too much on the overstuffed “Here I Stand” to be digested in a single listen. But in today’s download era, maybe that’s not such a bad thing. After all, there will be a lot more people buying a song or two or three from “Here I Stand” than will purchase the entire album. And there are far more than three songs worth hearing on the album.