CD Review: Jamie Foxx, "Unpredictable" (J Records)

Predictable. From start to finish--from the recycled bumps and grinds to the uninspired guest spots to the yawn-worthy bedroom sentiments found in the lyrics--this is an album that sounds as if it came straight off the slow-jam assembly line.

"Yeah, ladies, I know you tired of the same old things," Foxx croons on the album's title track. "Things have become so mundane."

It's not just ladies who are tired of the same old things. Men are tired, too. Unfortunately, Foxx doesn't provide any solutions on "Unpredictable," his first full-length studio recording since 1994's "Peep This."

Of course, Foxx has been busy during the lengthy break between albums. He's achieved amazing success as an actor, winning an Oscar for the title role in "Ray," and has parlayed his big-screen clout into a recording career, notably as a sideman to Kanye West on the smash-hits "Slow Jamz" and "Gold Digger."

But the Jamie Foxx thrill ride officially ends here. "Unpredictable," at times, is nearly unlistenable. Fox tries to sound like a baby Babyface on such sexed-up slow jams as "Warm Bed" or a junior R. Kelly on the overwrought "DJ Plays a Love Song," but he fails miserably.

File this album next to Don Johnson's "Heartbeat" and Bruce Willis' "The Return of Bruno."