The reviews

Supply and Demand
Amos Lee
Blue Note Records    ***

Born to be mild? Amos Lee’s sophomore effort for Blue Note follows firmly in the gentle guitar strums of his well-received 2005 debut and opening slots for Norah Jones and Bob Dylan.
Little has changed the second time around, which will come as a relief to those enthralled by his first release. He remains a sensitive sort, mixing his insightful, reflective lyrics with lovely, unforced melodies played by backing musicians that stay on low boil. These tunes go down as smoothly as hot chocolate on a cold day, yet Lee brings an unassuming sincerity to the proceedings with his cozy, amiable voice.
Comparisons to Bill Withers and James Taylor are accurate if inevitable, but when the gospel organ quivers into Skipping Stone, it’s clear Lee isn’t stuck in a folk-pop rut.
Adult-contemporary fans will welcome Supply and Demand.

Long Island Shores
Mindy Smith
Vanguard Records   **

With her expressively breathy vocals and uplifting melodies, Mindy Smith expresses both the romantic and spiritual dimensions of rapture.
It can occasionally be hard to tell whether Smith is singing of God or love, or if she even makes a distinction between the two.
Whether she’s invoking prayer and sin in the opening Out Loud, hoping that he’s looking out for her in Out of Control, casting a seductive charmer as a Little Devil, or recalling her preacher father in the title track, Smith’s material blurs the distinction between the earthly and the ethereal.
Her duet with kindred spirit Buddy Miller on What If the World Stops Turning highlights the album, though the Nashville-based artist rarely hints at country within her buoyant brand of folk-pop.

Release Therapy
Ludacris
Def Jam           ***

Ludacris doesn’t pull out any real surprises here, but he also wouldn’t have lasted this long if he didn’t have a talent for consistency. What’s missing here are big singles.
His first attempt, Money Maker, was too colour-by-numbers. There’s nothing on Release Therapy that achieves the anthem status of older Ludacris singles like Stand Up or Pimpin All Over the World. Yet, even lacking a stand-out radio hit, Release Therapy is a satisfying listen, working what’s now become a standard blend of playa/pimp songs and a few trap anthems and dispensing grown folk wisdom.
Along the way, he manages to take a slap at former protégé Chingy, rap about young mothers with Mary J Blige and hold it down for brothers in lock-up alongside Pimp C, Beanie Siegel, and C-Murder.
Though not spectacular, Release Therapy stays the course for Luda to rule as the Mouf of the South.

20 Y.O.
Janet Jackson
Virgin           **

Janet Jackson opens her much-hyped, post-wardrobe-malfunction return to the studio with the following proclamation: “I’ve covered a lot in my 20 years, and I’ve uncovered a lot in my 20 years.” There’s a pause, then a giggle. And then comes an honest breakdown of this disc’s DNA: “I want to have fun,” chimes Janet. Fun, then, is what we get.
With a light heart, a light vocal touch, and no shortage of quips and unstaged-sounding between-song cut-ups, Janet and her Jermaine Dupri-helmed posse pull together a Sunday afternoon picnic of a disc: Enjoy, among 20 Y.O.’s standouts, hauls in a kids’ choir to reinforce the keep-it-simple, spirits-skyward vibe; So Excited reaches back to Herbie Hancock’s Rockit for a subtle retro reference point; and Show Me and Do It 2 Me buzz along to infectious midtempo sound melanges.
Nothing’s twitchy or trying too hard.