Masterpiece Theatre

I don't know exactly what En Vogue were trying to prove with this album. Maybe they were still trying to show that they weren't washed up after Dawn Robinson left. Well, that theory was proved false with Masterpiece Theatre. By the way, that title is a contradiction because the last time I checked, masterpieces were GOOD. Too many songs on this album suffer from weak choruses, especially the leadoff single "Riddle", "Number One Man" and "Work It Out" (the verses on those songs aren't great either). And apparently the ladies made the mistake of trying to be too trendy, something that occurred extremely too often back in 2000 (see also Boyz II Men and Keith Sweat). "Latin Soul" and "Beat Of Love" are party-starters that are sure to be party-enders if played. And the latter is very dreary. I didn't know there was such a thing as a dreary club-rocker until I heard that song. Another problem is the tired performances from unknown guest rappers in songs like "Love U Crazay" and "Those Dogs" (although "Those Dogs" was bad enough already). And another thing, what happened to the ladies' singing voices? There's a lot of bad adlibbing and just plain bad singing. Even Terry Ellis sounds off-key for much of this album. Production doesn't help matters either. A lot of these songs are symphony-driven, and their song "You Are The Man" off the Soul Food soundtrack proved that that kind of production doesn't agree with them. And when the songs aren't symphony-driven, they're usually opera-driven (as well as the singing). Also, most of the songs have obvious samples without giving anybody credit. I can't believe I actually sat through this album. We know that singers want to keep their careers alive, but this is definitely NOT the way to do it. En Vogue, please leave us with the memories we have. It's over.