Tank, on Sex, Love & Pain, is like Luther Vandross only slightly lewder: He'll be the first to admit, as he does on the three-part opening track "Coldest," that he's "somewhat of a hustler out here on the street... occasional strip clubs and shots of Hennessy." That doesn't stop him from laying his heart on the line, though. Repeatedly. Midtempo grooves like "I'm Coming Home," a hopeful reunion song, and "Heartbreaker," a limber-voiced lament that outlines a crumbled relationship, show Tank's tender side and take the romantically inclined places more real-seeming than Luther's songs. Throughout the long lineup of love-gone-wrong tracks, the brawny guy with the tattooed back doesn't forget his playful side, either. Before Timbaland sidles up and gets closing track "I Love Them Girls" all trademark-sizzly, Tank does some titillating of his own via the sexed-up steamer "My Body." --Tammy La Gorce