Soul

This week's releases reviewed

MAXWELL BLACKsummers' Night Columbia ***

When it comes to drafting new soul masterplans, few have bettered Maxwell's 1996 tour-de-force debut, Urban Hang Suite. Even Maxwell himself struggled a little with its awesomeness – his follow-up albums have never quite hit the same lavish, strung-out, seductive heights. Coming on the back of an eight-year layoff, during which time Maxwell seems to have done little except chill out, BLACKsummers' Nightis as slick, deep and considered as anything in the Brooklynite's back catalogue. The nods and winks to Al Green (especially on Pretty Wings), Marvin Gaye (the bittersweet, broody bite of Playing Possum) and even Isaac Hayes (check the drama that builds on Fistful of Tears) show that Maxwell can still play the right cards at the right time. The album is mooted as the first in a trilogy, and you get the feeling that Maxwell really is only warming up. www.myspace.com/maxwell JIM CARROLL

Download tracks: Fistful of Tears, Playing Possum