Justin Timberlake is to Robin Thicke what ‘N Sync and Backstreet Boys were to a band like O-Town. In fact, he pretty much made it all possible. But even though it took one blue-eyed soulster with a hot look and an achy falsetto to bang down the door for another, Thicke presents a convincing case here that he had the goods to get us grooving all along. Evolution is a classy disc that tiptoes up to its listeners, first with an elegant duet with Faith Evans (Got 2 Be Down), next with a slick lament that wouldn’t sound out of place on a Boyz II Men disc (Complicated), and then with a sweet plea that commands a finger-snap (Would That Make U Love Me). By the time we reach the long, sweeping lullaby that is the final track ‘Angels’ we’ve also had a taste of Thicke’s swaggering side (I Need Love, Cocaine), his hip-hop loving side (All Night Long and Shooter, both with Lil Wayne), and the side that fantasizes about 1950s Latin ballrooms (Everything I Can’t Have), a hot tamale of a number that is impossible to hear without imagining a raven-haired woman with a red rose between her teeth. Despite the range of moods on display, they all brush up against the ear with something like affection, even for listeners of a certain age who will have to get past knowing that Thicke is the son of Alan Thicke, the actor of cheesy 1980s TV sitcom Growing Pains.
Interscope
