Face Up

Face Up is Lisa Stansfield's first offering for the new millennium, and on this disc she treads similar waters as on previous albums, except for a few more adventurous outings. The album's first single, "Let's Just Call It Love," incorporates the British garage 2step beats introduced to Americans and popularized earlier in 2001 by fellow Brit Craig David, and makes for an unusual but interesting leadoff single. The album's opener, "I've Got Something Better," is classic, funky Lisa Stansfield at her best, and the song gets more and more fun with each repeated listening. Other standouts include the Burt Bacharach-ish show-stopping ballad "How Could You?," the pleading "Don't Leave Now I'm in Love," and the set's most obvious hit, the breezy, disco-laced anthem "8-3-1." The title track is the album's requisite Barry White tribute, and the album's irresistibly funky closer, "All Over Me," is this set's answer to her previous album's "The Line." This disc does have its share of filler, including the Destiny's Child-sounding "Boyfriend," which is quite immature for a sophisticated gal like Lisa, and the silly ditty "Candy." Stansfield's pipes get quite gritty on the ballad "Didn't I," and "Wish on Me" is as sensitive and acoustic as the "Rochdale Queen" gets. Once again, this reliable singer, without straying too far from her signature formula, delivers a high-quality set, despite the presence of a few dull moments. ~ Jose F. Promis, Rovi