Justin sets sale

Glenn Gamboa | DROPS

September 12, 2006

Justin Timberlake has something to sell - and be proud of - in "FutureSex/LoveSounds" (Wireimage.com Photo)

Justin Timberlake is always selling. It's probably what he does best.

He's slick, stylish, bringing-back sexy and he knows how to give the people what they want. He has a gift for packaging - from his well-choreographed dance moves to his well-timed genre hopping, he has a strong sense of what will work and what won't. And his new album, "FutureSex/LoveSounds" (Jive), reflects that.

"FutureSex/LoveSounds" is well crafted with producer Timbaland - who provides Timberlake with the same sexed-up guidance and envelope-pushing dance beats that brought Nelly Furtado back to the top of the charts with "Promiscuous" - and like nearly all of Timberlake's work with 'N Sync and on his debut "Justified," it is remarkably likable.

The dizzying "SexyBack" is Timberlake at his best, mainstreaming a combination of the wild, edgy dance-pop style of Basement Jaxx with Missy Elliott's more experimental hip-hop to create a boldly inventive sound that still pleases the masses.

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It's a mix he mines for much of "FutureSex/LoveSounds," taking an older sound and twisting it to make it sound fresh. Timberlake's salesmanlike talents give him the confidence to pull off sounding like the Mary Jane Girls on the title track or filling the hook girl, er, person, role on "Chop Me Up," as Timbaland and Three Six Mafia take the song over. He even reprises himself on "What Goes Around ...," which is essentially "Cry Me a River II (The Sequel)," from the handclaps and skittering beat to the tempo.

And he clearly has a thing for royalty on this album, whether it's the numerous stylistic references to Prince (from the elimination of spaces between words in song titles to "Sexy Ladies" and especially "Until the End of Time," which even uses the same palette of synthesizer sounds from Prince's "Purple Rain" album) or his love of "King of Pop"-era Michael Jackson, which livens up the otherwise plodding and plain "Summer Love."

All this will undoubtedly sell well. However, "FutureSex/

LoveSounds" is also the first sign that Timberlake may want something more. On "Losing My Way," he offers a tale of crack addiction over a spare, poignant beat that blossoms into an all-out gospel choir intervention as he sings, "There's gotta be a heaven somewhere/Can you save me from this hell? Can anybody out there feel me 'cause I can't seem to feel myself?"

But it's "(Another Song) All Over Again," a stripped-down soul ballad in the moving, understated style of Donny Hathaway, that makes you wonder why Timberlake has been holding out on us. Produced by Rick Rubin, "All Over Again" allows Timberlake's soulful voice to soar without overreaching, showing those "American Idol" kids how to walk that line between genuine and staged.

Timberlake has clearly been looking for a way to be taken seriously as an artist, the way his former Mouseketeer pal Christina Aguilera is, the way his 20-something peer Alicia Keys is. In "All Over Again," he has found it: Stop selling. When songs are this good, you don't need flashy new dance moves, a clever marketing concept and another round of fresh remixes to make them work. When songs are this good, they sell themselves.

("FutureSex/LoveSounds," in stores today; Grade: B+)

ALSO IN STORES. Big adult pop releases from Shawn Colvin, with "These Four Walls" (Nonesuch), singer-songwriter Kasey Chambers, with "Carnival" (Warner Bros.), and John Mayer, with the blues-tinged "Continuum" (Aware/Columbia); hipster-friendly indie rock from TV on the Radio with "Return to Cookie Mountain" (Interscope), the Black Keys and their passionately bluesy "Magic Potion" (Nonesuch), the Mars Volta with "Amputechre" (Universal), and Yo La Tengo's "I Am Not Afraid of You and I Will Beat Your Ass" (Matador); dance-floor fillers Basement Jaxx's "Crazy Itch Radio" (XL) and The Rapture's "Pieces of People We Love" (Universal); hip-hoppers N.O.R.E. with "N.O.R.E. y La Familia Ya Tu Sabe" (Roc-a-Fella), and Governor with "Son of Pain" (Atlantic); '90s stars Barenaked Ladies with "Barenaked Ladies Are Me" (Desperation) and Everclear with "Welcome to the Drama Club" (Eleven Seven Music); Papa Roach's heavy rock "The Paramour Sessions" (Geffen); and comeback albums, "Coming Home" (Island) from Lionel Richie and "Face the Promise" (Capitol) from Bob Seger.

SONG(S) OF THE WEEK. Nicole Scherzinger may not be a household name yet, but she has a hand in three of the most buzzed-about singles around. First, there's the flirty Top 5 pop hit "Buttons" (A&M) with her group, the Pussycat Dolls. Then, she sings the sexy hook on "Come to Me" (Bad Boy), Diddy's bounce-inducing comeback hit, which will soon be charging up the charts as well. And finally, there's the oddest one of all, a duet with Italian popera hunk Vittorio Grigolo called "You Are My Miracle" (Univeral), where Scherzinger shows she owes her success to more than her cat moves, as she holds her own on the big ballad.

Contact Glenn Gamboa

at 631-843-3434 or glenn.gamboa@newsday.com.