TORTURED TEEN

“ALL FOR LOVE.” New Edition. MCA. Lead singer Ralph Tresvant, 17, continues to emerge as black music’s major teen heartthrob. His voice is still pinched and whiny, but those tortured tones are the key to this vocal quintet’s charm. Overall, the album shows a mastery of teen-age titillation, with “Count Me Out” as the main attraction. That cut matches last year’s “Cool It Now,” with its easy, perky appeal. Other songs, like “Let’s Be Friends” and “Kickback,” applaud the merits of patience and taking it slow in the romance department, though the message is somewhat negated by the inclusion of the randy “Tonight’s Your Night.” Much better is the message-oriented “School,” a spunky rap track the group wrote and produced. It may be premature to claim that New Edition is the Jackson 5 of the ‘80s, but this album clearly points them in that direction.