New Edition’s ‘Home Again’ Could Use Some Upgrading : NEW EDITION “Home Again”; MCA (** 1/2)

New Edition made an effort to make this reunion not sound like its outside projects, a debatable move since all of the members have cut albums that kicked much harder than anything they ever recorded back in the group’s early years.

These guys have shown that they’re capable of being brutally funky on their own, particularly Bobby Brown. While he’s been the most effective in building a name for himself as a solo artist, he’s exercised his prerogative here by being low-key in the extreme. His presence is barely felt on any track.

In an attempt to be fair and democratic, the individual strengths of the group got sacrificed. What punch and personality this album does possess is due to the nasty rap attacks of Ricky Bell, Ronnie DeVoe and Michael Bivens. It’s those types of inflections that make “Hit Me Off” this album’s standout track.

While a New Edition reunion is a worthy and welcome concept, more time spent cutting better material would have turned that concept into a major event. As it stands here, New Edition seriously shortchanged itself.

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Albums are rated on a scale of one star (poor), two stars (fair), three stars (good, recommended), four stars (excellent).