I really don’t know what to make of this latest release from the N.E.R.D, the people behind some of the most successful pop albums ever. From the people who sexed up Britney, gave JT some balls, and turned Kelis from ordinary pop into sexual and vocal dynamite comes a very average second album.

It’s wonderfully produced, as you would expect from the Neptunes, who I must admit I admire greatly even though I dislike most pop/r’n’b, but they generally give pop an edge that’s not found in other pop producers’ sound. On this latest CD, the edge has gone, to be poorly replaced by guitars and drums, and overall disappoints fans of both their production efforts and those fond of their first album.

The album is very rocky and funky, starting with a heavy bass in Don’t Worry About It. Which is about Pharrell’s favourite thing, sex of course. It’s quite funky, and is similar in structure and sound to Prince in a lot of ways. Fly Or Die is all about not killing yourself, and is “only for the kids”. It follows a similarly funk rock sound… think Chilli Peppers and you’re about there. And that’s about the breadth of the album. It’s not to say tunes like Backseat Love and The Way She Dances are bad; they’re not. But they’re not as inspiring and original sounding as some of the tunes on the first album In Search Of…. A lot of the sounds are repeated throughout the album. Or they sound like something else, such as Thrasher, which riff sounds remarkably like Queens of the Stone Age.

And that’s a little disappointing. I really enjoyed the blend of hiphop, rock and pop on the first album, but Fly Or Die contains nothing but guitar, bass, drums and organ/piano. No scratching, no guest singers such as Kelis, nothing to make it stand out from any other rock record, apart from, of course, slick and sublime production. Maybe that’s what N.E.R.D wanted, to get back to the basic sound of amplified drums and guitar, but it doesn’t justify their talent that flows overwhelmingly from their other projects.