album reviews: Spin Cycle is a biweekly roundup of the latest music releases selected by Citysearch editors.

Usher [ tickets ]
"8701" (Arista)

R&B singer-movie star Usher Ray originally planned to release "8701," then-named "All About U," earlier this year. However, after "All About U" was leaked to Napster, Ray returned to the studio to record a second version of the album, containing seven of the original tracks. Renamed for the album's release date, "8701" sounds like a collection of B-sides that didn’t quite make (or shouldn't have made) the cut. Though Sean "P. Diddy" Combs lends his vocals to "I Know," and Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, as well as the Neptunes and Jermaine Dupri, offer production help, the album still remains a weak offering. "8701" is more sexually charged and more mature than Ray’s last studio album, 1997’s "My Way," but it sounds like just another anonymous album in the vast sea of modern R&B. --Christina Fuoco, liveDaily contributing writer

Prince [ tickets ]
"The Very Best of Prince" (Warner Brothers/Rhino)

That this tepid compilation is being released under his moniker is nearly laughable, as Prince hardly sanctioned it. To catch up those who’ve ignored his off-kilter behavior during the past five years: in 1996, Prince publicly ditched Warner Brothers, the major label that helped make him a star. Taking a cue from righteous babe Ani DiFranco, he then began releasing music strictly on his own terms. "The Very Best" is simply a collection of his mammoth Warner Brothers-era hits. The tunes--"1999," "When Doves Cry," "Kiss," and "Sign 'O' the Times" among them--are sublime, of course, but they recall a time when Prince and his precocious funk mattered. Who is this record for? Diehards already own the albums that birthed the songs. Those unfamiliar with Prince's wild kingdom should start with 1993's comprehensive--and far superior--"The Hits/B-Sides." --Scott Henkemeyer, citysearch.com

Freedy Johnston [ tickets ]
"Right Between the Promises" (Elektra)

Freedy Johnston walks a tightrope between major and minor keys, his balancing act equal parts anthem and lament. "Right Between the Promises" begins where 1992's "Can You Fly" left off, with a blaring slide guitar ascending gracefully into the brilliant rocker, "Broken Mirror." The album remains at full tilt through the end of the third song, a fun, timely cover of Edison Lighthouse’s singular hit, "Love Grows." But the album's pacing is upset by a three-song slump, starting with the miscast, James Taylorish "That's Alright with Me" and ending in a severely whacked-out shuffle. Things get back on track with the minimalist "Arriving on a Train," on which a shaker subtly mimics locomotion and a slide guitar serves as a whistle, forming an ambient backdrop for Johnston to question where he's at. On "Right Between the Promises," Freedy Johnston builds on his strengths, momentarily waffles, then soars to new heights. --Don Harvey, austin.citysearch.com

Joy Division [ tickets ]
"Heartandsoul" (Rhino)

Few acts from the punk era have aged as well as Joy Division. While most bands applied punk's hard/fast rules to screeds against the world, Joy Division warped the formula to sculpt music that was inward and psychological. "Heartandsoul"--a four-disc box set that boasts liner notes by "England's Dreaming" author Jon Savage--covers the group's career from 1977 to 1980, when leader Ian Curtis committed suicide. Featuring the band's two studio albums, as well as rare tracks from singles, flexi-discs and live shows, the set documents the evolution of a ringing, propulsive sound that would follow surviving members to New Order. But the heart of Joy Division was Curtis, whose fitful delivery and searching lyrics became more inspiring the bleaker they got. On the live tracks--the jewels of "Heartandsoul"--Curtis claws his way through darkness, moaning and screaming with an illuminating shrillness that still shows no sign of fading away. --Andy Battaglia, newyork.citysearch.com

Chocolate Genius
"Godmusic" (V2)

"Godmusic" is the second album by Chocolate Genius, the recording project of cheeky experimentalist Mark Anthony Thompson. It plays like the conjoined dreams of Jimi Hendrix and PJ Harvey, and although those seem like big shoes to fill, Thompson nearly pulls it off. His favorite themes--spirituality and sexuality--liken him to a certain Minneapolis genius, but for Thompson, they are arenas in which joy is mostly thwarted by suffering and desperation. In "Love," he observes, "Your sentence is life/And your partner in crime/Is steadily soaking you up/Just like the sunshine." In "Bossman Piss (in my lemonade)," he ponders, "Am I gay, or just tired?/A hole is just a hole." Gorgeous melodies rise from the arty blues-rock mix, only to disappear back into the murk. Thompson seems too eager to hide behind an arty pose, too complacent in his misery, but the upside is that he's crafted a strikingly atmospheric hiding place. --Justin Hartung, citysearch.com

Previous Spin Cycles:

July 26: Spin Cycle: 'NSync, Aaliyah, Cake, Toni Price, The Beta Band

July 12: Melissa Etheridge, Tha Liks, Perry Farrell, Ray Wylie Hubbard, Craig David

June 28: Sisqo, Gorillaz, Built to Spill, Miles Davis, The White Stripes

June 14: Blink-182, Mandy Moore, Travis, Rufus Wainwright, The Webb Brothers

Have a comment or question? Send a message to the Spin Cycle editor: Don Harvey.