Leavin'

With Leavin', her 20th studio album, Natalie Cole looks to be issuing a challenge to longtime listeners: if you're in, it's because you see stardust and are gripped by a warm sensation anytime her legendary voice eases through a speaker. If you're out, it's because you're not as musically adventurous as she is. Of the dozen songs here, only roughly a quarter could be cordoned off into classic R&B territory; the rest amount to an artful but decidedly pop-leaning hodgepodge. In addition to the opening track, a cover of Fiona Apple's "Criminal" that does away with the original's raw, angry edge in favor of flipness and sass, Cole gamely tackles Neil Young's classic "Old Man" and Kate Bush's "The Man With the Child in His Eyes." If those songs seem effortful, she finds more even footing on the title track, a Shelby Lynne original ready-made for a classic soul reworking, as well as on Aretha Franklin's "Day Dreaming," which benefits from producer Dallas Austin's addition of a hip hop-lite fringe. Unsurprisingly for an artist of Cole's depth and caliber, Leavin's sole original track, "5 Minutes Away," is its best. Here is Natalie as the world knows and loves her: a belter born to dose up the stirrings of her soul with unmatched tenderness and bottomless love. --Tammy La Gorce

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