Marc Anthony  (Audio CD) 
by Marc Anthony

Marc Anthony comes on like a suave, less jumpy alternative to Ricky Martin on this mostly English-language album. Having already introduced itself to the pop mainstream with the salsa-tinged single "I Need to Know," Marc Anthony offers several other obvious crossover hits, ranging from the Rodney Jerkins-produced Latin-funk fusion of "She's Been Good to Me" to the lovelorn midtempo ballad "When I Dream at Night." However, Anthony's agreeably keening voice is too often applied to the sort of colorless adult-contemporary material typical of Michael Bolton and Mariah Carey mainstay Walter Afansieff, who produces or coproduces three tracks here. The result is often more interesting in sociological terms--Anthony fans who, like the star, were born to Latino parents in America are as sure to eat this disc up as his new Caucasian admirers--than in musical ones. Ain't that America? --Rickey Wright