USHER: HERE I STAND [ALBUM REVIEW]....

Usher's album Here I Stand certainly isn't everything I expected it to be and struck a couple of wrong chords with me in several places. Whilst Usher takes us on a journey which sees him embracing his wife, his marriage and fatherhood, a lot of the album's production just didn't sit well with me at all. Here I Stand comprises of well-rounded producers such as Polow Da Don, Tricky Stewart, Terius 'The Dream' Nash, Dre & Vidal, Jermaine Dupri, Bryan-Michael Cox, Stargate, Danja, The Clutch and J.R. Rotem. So with such a solid roster of producers, I was expecting the album to be well rounded with cutting edge production. An album that shouts from the rooftops that Usher is back to put his peers to shame, but he failed. The singer also crafted his younger brother James 'JLack' Lackey, amongst newcomer producers such as Soundz, Manuel Seal, and L.O.S. Da Maestro.

An appeasing opening to Here I Stand lies within the infectious club smash 'Love In This Club', with synths taken from pre-recorded loops via Garageband. Much thanks to Polow Da Don's "creativity" Love In This Club has helped implode Usher back onto the music scene, with ease. Whilst the song isn't as ominous as his 2004 smash 'Yeah', Usher still gave good signs that he was back to reclaim his throne. Latest new single 'Moving Mountains' impresses with it's amazing piano-synths and overly emotional vocal delivery. The intensifying lyrics also adds to the song's masterpiece in his fight with a relationship that's going downhill. Trading Places is also another stand-out of mine with its sexual lyrics and Prince-inspired beat. In a touching moment on 'Prayer For You', which he dedicates to his son, he asks crying 6-month-old Usher Raymond V: 'Do I sound that bad?' which is enough to touch the toughest of stone-cold souls, but a song every new parent can relate to.

The sonic-driven 'What's Your Name' which features Black Eyes Peas frontman Will.i.am is no doubt the most misplaced song (and most underwhelming) on the album, whilst tracks like the Jay-Z featured Best Thing and Appetite would make do for single-worthy tracks but are not representative of the compelling music we know Usher is capable of (circa previous albums Confessions, 8701 & My Way). Other songs that get honourable mentions include Lifetime, His Mistakes, What's Your Name, What's A Man To Do and the Beyonce-featured Love In This Club Part II. Then you have filler tracks such as This Aint Sex and few others that leave the album feeling cold and empty.

I can understand that Here I Stand is the last album Usher will ever release in his 20's and that he felt the pressures to deliver after his last album Confessions sold over 9 million. But along with marriage and fatherhood comes maturity and he wanted to make a stand. I encountered maturity but not much growth. The edge, poise and fire that were evident in tracks such as U Got It Bad and U Don't Have To Call are no longer there and I feel that Usher has lost his edge. Many folks (myself included) got the feeling Usher was about to shut the game down. Having listened to pleas from folks wanting Usher to musically run a lorry over Chris Brown, I thought that Here I Stand was too one-dimensional and there were too many songs of a monogamous nature (not that it's a bad thing but he could have stood to tone it down a notch; we get the message!). The album, which concentrates mostly on the singer's complacent vocal delivery is R&B fluff at best and not at all cohesive with what Usher truly stands for.

Rating: 3/5