For the third time in as many years, one of the industrys most consistent hit-makers takes a break from putting everyone else on the charts to provide us with an album of his own. Ne-Yos Year of the Gentleman is exactly what his fans will be looking for and, while only incrementally so, is probably his best album yet. What you see is still pretty much what you get, so the album is hardly an artistic revelation. But as well as hes been doing, simply keeping the pace is good enough for now.Ne-Yos third album isnt really a big evolution from his last so much as a second attempt at the same thing. Because of You Prince + Stevie Wonder = Year of the Gentleman; by stripping away the uncomfortably kinky moments and tightening up the production, Ne-Yo hasnt necessarily made a drastic improvement on his formula, but does a better job presenting it. Tracks like So You Can Cry may be less personal than the last albums bizarrely confessional discussions of sex addiction but thats hardly a bad thing. Staying away from his personal life frees things up considerably and allows him to write songs that will be interesting for longer since theyre not so topical.Much like Because of You, Ne-Yo unapologetically jacks Michael Jackson and Quincy Jones in more than a few spots, but If youre gonna steal, steal from the best. He invokes Off the Wall even in his most sincere attempts to be original (Closer) but weve heard Ne-Yo pull this act enough that its not a surprise. Really, its one of the better tricks up his sleeve anyway. Miss Independent and Closer take similar cues from Europe, but Closer fares better due to the easier to follow vocal performance inspired by Michael. Single was better a few months ago when Usher released it as Love In This Club but in general, Ne-Yo is delivering what weve grown accustomed to both on his own songs and those that hes written for others. The deluge of Ne-Yo penned songs on the radio makes much of his own album sound like songs weve heard many times over but thats a common issue for popular singer/songwriters and isnt entirely his fault. Obviously the publics appetite for his style hasnt been satisfied and you cant blame him too much for sticking to the script.Miss Independent – Ne-Yo