NEW ON DISC: Lyfe Jennings

NEW ON DISC: Lyfe Jennings

Special to The Hartford Courant

Lyfe Jennings, "Lyfe Change," Columbia

Everything about Lyfe Jennings' third album suggests a departure from his past hardscrabble soul, from the title to the guests (including T.I., Snoop Dogg and Wyclef) to the fact that a track called "Cops Up" is really a romantic 411. There's no denying that "Lyfe Change" finds the Ohio ex-con spending more time on the sunny side of the street -- epitomized by "Never Never Land," a ballad that feels like a presumptive rebuttal to critics of Jennings' newly positive outlook -- yet fans of his first two outings have little to fear.

If "Lyfe Change" is less autobiographical, in the sense that it spends less time dwelling on the issues surrounding Jennings' incarceration and rebirth as an R&B star, it's still almost instantly recognizable. "Old School" and "You Think You've Got It Bad" are familiar laments for Everyman, in the wake of runaway gas prices and a litany of other current discontents, while "Wild, Wild, Wild" takes another of Jennings' welcome hard looks at today's morality, sexual and otherwise.

"Midnight Train," meanwhile, is the fullest realization yet of Jennings' ghetto folk. More indebted to Otis Redding than market demographics, it's a nice reminder that this "Change" still finds Jennings his own man.

" Dan LeRoy