The Neptunes: Clones

By RUSSELL BAILLIE

(Herald rating: * * *)

Despite the name, the Neptunes aren't known so much for their melodies as the Nepbeats and Nepbasslines. Usually they've got other people up front with the hooks. But American pop wouldn't sound the way it does without the producer pair of Pharrell Williams and Chad Hugo. Just ask the accountants of Justin Timberlake, Britney Spears, Beyonce, Jay-Z, Backstreet Boys, Mary J. Blige, Busta Rhymes, No Doubt and Usher.

Having already released a well-regarded album - in two versions, but that's a long story - under their alter-ego N.E.R.D., the pair now step further out into the spotlight with Clones. It's being presented less as an example of their pop production genius (which it is in places) than as a sampler for their own label, Star Trak.

It also shows hip-hop is their first love, albeit hip-hop which sounds like it's an update of the sound big on synthesiser rumbles and sharp beats which can remind of the electro-era of Herbie Hancock's Rock-It and Afrika Bambatta.

Among those at the mike are Busta Rhymes, Ludacris, Nelly, Snoop Dogg, Dirt McGirt (the new moniker for Ol' Dirty Bastard) and Kelis, with Williams. It's playful and occasionally dead silly - in a good way on Busta's Light Your Ass On Fire and in a bad way on the two rock tracks in the middle by Spymob and the High Speed Scene. And some of it - like the Nelly track If - can sound like variations on themes the various MCs have already much-covered earlier.

But there's smart stuff in Snoop Dogg's stoned funk of It Blows My Mind, Clipse's explosive Blaze of Glory and Kelis' closing Popular Thug. Not many of the tracks on which Williams and his falsetto appear leave much of an impression, nor does the return of N.E.R.D on Loser.

So perhaps their famous clients should be pleased - the Neptunes haven't been saving the best stuff for themselves.

Label: Star Trak/Arista