The latest CD releases reviewed

KELIS
Kelis Was Here La Face/Virgin **

Beware of any r'n'b album bearing 17 tracks. The latest long-playing rub from Kelis clocks in at 77 minutes, which is at least an hour too long when you don't have at least one Milkshake to sustain you. Having hit the bullseye with 2003's Tasty, Kelis has decided she can be just as successful without that album's wonderfully alien funk and off-kilter shape-throwing. Dismissing the Neptunes is one thing (it seems to be a recurrent theme in hip-hop/r'n'b at the moment, though Kelis and that duo had been a longstanding item), but bringing in journeymen knob-twiddlers like Black Eye Pea Will.I.Am and Shondrae to work on cack-handed material is not the same thing. Instead of sounding like Kelis, most of the tracks come across as Kelis as would-be Pussycat Doll or Kelis as J-Lo tribute act. Yes, there are some highlights (the lovely soulful duet with Cee-Lo on Lil Star and the buckwild lash of Bossy), but these are low-wattage items compared to what Kelis can really do. www.kelis.co.uk  Jim Carroll