Tevin Cambell

Some artists put out "best of" CDs far too early in their careers. Case in point, The Best of Tevin Campbell.\nIt's true, Campbell has been recording music since he released his first album in 1991 at age 14. But what is also true is his music hasn't grown or matured much since that time, producing a CD where most tracks sound exceedingly similar. In fact, the most dramatic changes from track to track are in Campbell's voice. One minute he's prepubescent, the next his voice has changed. Eventually this causes the listener to get a little seasick and annoyed that the record company didn't put the tracks in chronological order.\nThe best songs on the CD are Campbell's first and second successful singles, "Round and Round" and "Tell Me What You Want Me to Do" (For some reason, these two recordings don't appear until tracks eight and nine.) "Round and Round" is a great nostalgia trip despite having extremely corny lyrics. "Tell Me" takes full advantage of Campbell's vocal strong points and like "Round and Round" actually sounds different than the other songs on the CD.\nMost of the other offerings are a sample from Campbell's other albums to date. They all show exactly why Campbell hasn't had any really big hit songs since he was 14. All showcase Campbell's decent voice sounding like the majority of R&B now available. The goal of these songs was to sound mainstream; unfortunately they also sound boring.\nListeners should hope that when Campbell is ready for another "best of" album, he'll have acquired a little more courage and musical maturity.