CD OF THE WEEK

MISSY ELLIOTT The Cookbook Atlantic ****

The time will surely come when Missy Elliott releases a grand royale of a dud. The Cookbook is the sixth album from the lady behind more genre-squashing soundclashes than anyone else in the hip-hop game, and you could understand if a little rust was beginning to show or a rattle was coming from the engine. While Elliott's shtick has always been to move at three times the speed of everyone else around her, there's something of a pause for breath on The Cookbook. Previously Elliott's albums have always been done largely as a tag team with superstar producer Timbaland, but there are new chefs onboard for this one.

Some are already household names: rising star Rich Harrison does for Can't Stop what he did for Beyoncé on Crazy in Love, the Neptunes turn On & On inside out with high-calibre electronic boogaloo, and Timbaland's experienced touch is all over Partytime. Some of the newer names fail to shine from the get-go, yet what's more impressive is the strong sense of Elliott revisiting and reshaping old ideas that she may not have got quite right the last time around. Add in the usual full room of guests - Mary J Blige elevates My Struggles to new dramatic heights, while MIA's appearance on Bad Man is slight but effective - and you have a new kind of domestic goddess on the scene. www.missy-elliott.com

Jim Carroll