The SelloutConcord **

A decade ago Macy Gray was the Janelle Monáe of her day, a new on-the-scene soul sister with a distinctive voice, some fine songs and all and sundry egging her on. But Gray never quite lived up to that early promise, and her raspy sound went hand in glove with less and less striking songs as the years went by, leading her to eventually take a cheque from US TV show Dancing With the Stars. Gray's fifth album is better than some of the dross in her back- catalogue, though it's not enough to arrest what has been a steady decline. Her problem remains the material, and The Sellout doesn't take long to show this up. Some of the tracks work (such as Latelyand the stomping, crunchy Kissed It, the latter featuring metalheads Slash, Duff McKagan and Matt Sorum). But they are surrounded by acres of melodramatic mush such as Still Hurtsand the Bobby Brown-assisted Real Love.Gray, it seems, still has quality control issues.

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Download track: Kissed It