R Kelly

R Kelly is R&B’s reigning king of outrageousness: Whether inspiring listeners to reach for the sky (”˜I Believe I Can Fly’) or the Astroglide (”˜In the Kitchen’), he can always be counted on to deliver horny double-entendres and vocal acrobatics. But on his 11th -studio album, Kelly experiments with a novel concept: restraint. Kelly is the consummate gentleman on the PG-rated Love Letter: The sunny title track finds him giving praise to “sweet dreams, butterflies, holding hands,” and on ”˜When a Woman Loves,’ a retro-soul ode to fidelity, Kelly’s gritty intensity evokes Wilson Pickett. Much of Love Letter is sleekly tuneful, and it’s a testament to Kelly’s musical ingenuity that the songs don’t fizzle even with the fly zipped up on his wildest eccentricities.