Though his masterful 1989 debut, Killin' Time, had once placed him neck and neck with Garth Brooks in the running for Nashville's most important New Traditionalist, Clint Black never made music that sounded as muscular or inspired. At times--his 1990 follow-up, Put Yourself in My Shoes, for instance--you could hear his wheels turn, as if he were trying too hard to do something that once came easy. However, on Spend My Time, his first album in nearly four years and the debut release for Equity (where Black is a partner), the stylish Texan takes full responsibility for everything--writing every tune, producing the disc, and letting his musicians stretch out in free-range solos. On the whole, he's more reflective than usual, taking stock of the fact that he's no longer a young gunslinger ("Spend My Time") and admitting that he's still smarting about his tumble from grace ("We All Fall Down"). Black still occasionally comes up with a bumbling, empty lyric ("All I need is everything I want"), something that has long marred his work. But he also conjures some of the most beautiful and wistful love songs of his career. If his days as a Number One hit maker are over, in the soaring ballads "My Imagination" and "Just Like You and Me" he proves he's only now really exploring his limits as an artist. --Alanna Nash