UK garage has changed beyond recognition in the three years since Matt Coleman, aka MJ Cole, released his debut album.
From Mis-Teeq to Ms Dynamite and So Solid Crew to the Streets, the genre has produced more household names than Pop Idol and undergone myriad intriguing mutations in the process.
By comparison, Coleman's second album sounds timid and redundant. While his glorious 1998 single Sincere demonstrated the benefits of classical training and a passion for vintage soul, Cut to the Chase betrays the drawbacks.
Impeccably tasteful and overproduced, if this album were any more polite it would offer to take your coat.
Dancehall MC Elephant Man provides some rude relief with the boisterously nonsensical Mad Man, but otherwise the boat remains unrocked.
