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"Memoirs of an Imperfect Angel" by Mariah Carey
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Mariah Carey’s second decade in the music business has been more markedly intriguing than her first, largely because of the public breakdown she had shortly after leaving her first longtime record label, Columbia, for supposedly greener pastures at Virgin.  Since then, I’ve been as vocals as others on the topic of what has seemed to be a reduction in the quality of her voice.  However, it seems that she’s both regained confidence and her ear for good music as the decade has progressed, even if some of the hallmarks of early Carey are but a distant memory.

A quick listen to first single “Obsessed,” which employs Autotune and is pretty stable in the middle of the register (with some of those faint vocal heights lingering just at the end), and one would think she’s lost it all, but the new album, “Memoirs of an Imperfect Angel,” dispels that relatively quickly, just by turning to second single “I Want to Know What Love Is,” a previous hit for Foreigner and remade not all that long ago by Wynonna.  She’s still got control over her voice, if a little overly breathy during the beginning, but it’s a good performance from Carey overall, and much improved over efforts earlier in the decade. Other tracks, while keeping the R&B/urban production Carey has favored for some time now, have the feel of her not stretching to the degree she was before; she sounds comfortable.

Standout tracks on the album include “Obsessed,” “Love Is,” and “H.A.T.E.U.;” other tracks sound a little too samey, such as the similar structure of “Standing O” to “Obsessed.”  The consistency makes it a better album in terms of flow, but it trades better flow for less standout material, a trade-off that makes some sense given her recent output, which has been quite uneven.

“Memoirs” is, well, “Imperfect,” but here’s a relatively stable collection of decent songs.  Carey fans have reason to go back to the well, and fans of music in the style of “Obsessed” and “Love Is” will be happy with the result. Carey’s still likable, even if she can’t hit it out of the park as often, but there’s nothing inherently wrong with the package this go-around; it’s just not as immediate or exciting, possibly an appropriate reaction from a 20-year veteran in music. After all, Madonna took it too far and had to backpedal; Carey may be playing it safe for the right reasons.