Big

For a while there, the helium-voiced Macy Gray seemed to be coasting instead of crashing down the walls between funk, rock, and R&B the way scads of breathless music pundits once said she would. That was before will.i.am and a handful of other skillful knob-twisters entered her life. Now, multi-genre destruction and utter domination once again seem possible: Big, as its title suggests, is a huge record--bold in all the right places and subdued where it needs to be; scruffy around the edges but slick below the surface; at once nonchalant and reckless to the bone. Gray, in her way, is a vocal Timbaland--it's tempting to think she's too imposing to make a random-seeming hook-up work, but she stretches her singular gift around pretty much any collaborator a producer can throw at her, and with style to burn. On Big, those tossed on for the challenge include Natalie Cole, who lights up opener "Finally Made Me Happy"; Nas, who gives up the grit likably on "Ghetto Love"; and Fergie, who coos efficiently throughout "Glad You're Here." As vibes go, the one given off here is cool, casual, and slightly crazy--all Macy, in other words. She does her thing up right, and she does it Big. --Tammy La Gorce

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