Craig David: Slicker Than Your Average

By RUSSELL BAILLIE

(Herald rating: * * * )

Like Robbie, fellow Brit star Craig David gets supposed inspiration from being so famous yet wanting to be left alone by those who want a piece of him. Fortunately, unlike Robbie, that covers only one song and not a whole album - in David's case the opener-title track of this his second album, leaving the rest of the 13 tracks for him to display his libidinously funky pop wares. Yes, his sound has shifted several degrees west across the Atlantic from his 2000 debut Born to Do It.

But even if he's embracing American R&B more, it still manages to work up quite a lather whether he's in oily ballad mode on You Don't Miss Your Water or Personal, letting the UK garage-derived electrofunk fly on What's Your Flava, Eenie Meenie and 2 Steps Back, or - crikey - duetting with Sting on the likeable, if rather winebar, track Rise and Fall. It certainly lives up to the title and it would seem the man with two first names now has two solid first albums under his frequently loosened belt.

Label: Wildstar