On the heels of Keith Sweat's successful run with LSG, his group with fellow crooners Gerald Levert and Johnny Gill, the 15-million-record-selling artist releases Still In The Game, an album that strives to rekindle previous hits.
"In Your Eyes," clearly the strongest contribution to the album, is indeed a hit, pulling influences from Sweat and Guy's early ground-breaking sound--computerized background vocals and long synthesizer strokes. Most of the ballads, "Can We Make Love," "Just Another Day," and "What Goes Around," include winning elements--more distinctive keys and addicting yet subtle pulsating drums--but fail to spark fireworks like previous hits "Make It Last Forever" and "Nobody."
Sweat's strength on Still In The Game is his performance on mid-tempo songs. The first release, "Come And Get With Me," features Snoop Dogg and wins with its humming bass and horn snippets. "Rumors" incorporates the syncopated drums popularized by Timbaland. "Let Me Have My Way" is enjoyably hip-hop influenced with turntable scratches, slicing keys, and growling organs. Sweat even pulls off a catchy remake of Kool & the Gang's "Too Hot" featuring Jermaine Dupri and Free, an upcoming female rapper to watch. Still "Love Jones," featuring Too Short, Erick Sermon, and Playa, disappoints--as does the LSG "My Body" mimicking "I'm Not Ready."
Still In The Game has enough strong singles to generate Sweat another multi-platinum seller, but the mediocrity of some of the filler tracks sheds unflattering attention on his weaknesses as a singer.
