The Song Lives on

"When Your Life Was Low," one of this album's four writing collaborations between former Crusaders keyboardist Joe Sample and pop's hack-for-hire Will Jennings, is typical of this CD's low aim and artistic laziness. The vague expression of friendship in "Life," voiced listlessly by the technically adept but boring Lalah Hathaway, is perfect for the office-ready smooth-jazz radio format and little else. Hathaway's appearances on 7 of The Song Lives On's 11 cuts are a blessing only in that they break up the monotony of Sample's in-one-ear-and-out-the-other noodlings; her extremely unnecessary version of "Fever" and a dull-edged remake of the Crusaders/Randy Crawford classic "Street Life" are résumé fodder and little else. --Rickey Wright