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In a rhythm and blues era when not just rappers but most singers as well try to outdo each other with the biggest beats, the roughest vocals, and the rawest attitudes, Kenny "Babyface" Edmonds swims against the tide on For the Cool in You, a collection of understated, satiny romantic soul. It's a big gamble, for such an evocation of Smokey Robinson's "Quiet Storm" in 1993 invites charges of wimpiness and crossover sell-out. The charges are often accurate, for it's very hard to do atmospheric pop-soul without tumbling down the slippery slope of sentimentality. The triumph of "For the Cool in You" is that it avoids just that danger by building the songs on rhythmic and harmonic tensions that are no less effective for being subtly tucked behind the seemingly serene vocals. --Geoffrey Himes