Sergio Mendes: Timeless

Herald rating: * * *

The idea had great potential, even if Santana has proved it doesn't work every time: cool old dude holes up in studio with cool young dude to make genre-crossing album for hip music lovers and their parents. Cue this mostly stylish collaboration between Brazilian artist Sergio Mendes and the Black Eyed Peas' will i. am.

Mendes is behind some of pop music's most recognisable salsa and bossa nova grooves but the height of his popularity was in the 60s. Now, after playing on two of the Peas' albums, he hooks up with will and his little black book to stage his unlikely comeback.

Problem is, someone should have told will to back off - for the first few tracks he Peas all over Mendes' elegant arrangements with his irritating rap, even when the pair revisit the old guy's hits with help from Erykah Badu, Q-Tip, Stevie Wonder and Jill Scott.

When will plays more of a behind-the-mic role, concentrating on modernising Mendes beats with his own deft hip-hop hand, the results, like Fo'Hop, are awesome. Please Baby Don't, a new song with John Legend, doesn't try too hard and in the process proves Mendes really is timeless. Laidback collaborations with India.arie and Justin Timberlake are further proof that experience pays.

Label: Universal