Playlist - Babyface

As one of R&B's most successful producers, Kenny "Babyface" Edmonds has always been more interested in soft sounds than in hot beats, and on "Playlist," the mostly-covers follow-up to 2005's underrated "Grown & Sexy," he draws a line from his work back to the '70s-era lite-rock hits that first inspired him to croon earnestly about the wonders of love and friendship. Sonic sap threatens everything here, but Edmonds usually manages to stave off Hallmark ickiness with an ear-tickling detail or two; dig the tasty Spanish guitar on his version of Jim Croce's "Time in a Bottle" or the gorgeous backing vocals on his reading of James Taylor's "Shower the People." One of the disc's two originals, "Not Going Nowhere," addresses Edmonds' recent divorce in language that's more honest than you might expect.—Mikael Wood.