CLASSIC, SCATTERED

“SHAKE YOU DOWN.” Gregory Abbott. Columbia. If everything on this album worked as well as the title cut, it would be a superb debut. “Shake You Down” has a cool, composed, relaxed charm that makes it one of the best--and most soulful--singles by a black pop artist to emerge last year. Elsewhere, Abbott’s ultra-high falsetto gives “I Got the Feelin’ (It’s Over)” a classic R&B; feel. His voice comes across a bit stronger on the calypso-flavored “Rhyme and Reason” and stronger still on the album’s closing tune, “I’ll Find a Way.” That Abbott chooses to emphasize a classic, soul-based sound is laudable. It’s just that he doesn’t do it well on cuts like “Say You Will,” which includes a particularly misguided bit of scatting, and the gimmicky “Magic.” Cuts like those make you hope “Shake” wasn’t just a lucky fluke.