Barry White - Staying Power (CD, Imported)

Barry White kicks off Staying Power, his first album since 1994's The Icon Is Love, with a title track that boasts of his long-running stamina, both in bed and in terms of his career. Indeed, the mood here is often as reflective as it is seductive. While sticking close to the machine-tooled groove that helped make Icon's "Practice What You Preach" such a memorable single, the disc also finds White putting his low-register stamp on War's "Low Rider" and Sly Stone's "Thank You" (the latter in a version that, intriguingly, recalls the slow There's a Riot Goin' On take more than the better-known hit). Staying power? Hey, if you've got it, flaunt it. --Rickey Wright