Of the six young men who have been part of the New Edition, Washington, D.C.-native Johnny Gill has far and away the best voice. And 1990's Johnny Gill is still the best album anyone connected with the New Edition has ever made. Provocative revisits the formula of that triumph--handing over the creative responsibilities once again to the two hottest songwriter/producer teams in R&B, the macho Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis and the romantic L.A. Reid and Babyface. This time, though, we get the formula instead of the triumph. All the pieces are there--the roof-rattling vocals, the industrial-strength beats, and the sumptuous synth harmonies--but there's no sense of a personality behind the machinery. Gill proves that he can growl and shout in sync with the slamming beats like any neo-disco-man, but Lewis's lyrics sound like the lines that single men on the prowl serve up in bars, and there's nothing in Gill's vocal to indicate that the words are anything but a line. Gill is still an impressive singer. "I Got You," written, produced, and sung by Boyz II Men, is blessed with appealing melodies and lush harmony singing, and "Long Way from Home" by L.A. Reid and Babyface is a truly romantic song that finds Gill finally opening up his heart to reassure a distant lover. He'll have to do that far more often if he wants to create the great soul music his voice makes possible. --Geoffrey Himes