In Brief

R&B;’s reigning nice guy is borderline bad boy on this latest project. He works a silky, Prince-like falsetto on “Love of My Life” and attempts to give Van Halen a run for its heavy-metal money on the title cut. Fortunately, no matter how hard McKnight tries to be risky and raunchy, he can’t escape his best quality: an inherently wholesome persona. A rebel he’s not, but McKnight’s brand of classic soul is its own reward. He headlines the Universal Amphitheater on Oct. 28.

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Albums are rated on a scale of one star (poor), two stars (fair), three stars (good) and four stars (excellent). The albums are already released unless otherwise noted.