* Usher

USHER LIVE

(LaFace)

Usher doesn't sing songs about love. He'll leave that sort of thing to the divas, the strictly-slow-jam crooners, the pretty-fly-white-guy quintets. Usher wants to talk details. "You make me want to leave the one I'm with and start a new relationship with you," he sings, and he's only halfway through the chorus. This Springeresque fondness for the explicit, coupled with youth (he's 20) and photogenic dimples, has created Atlanta's newest R&B juggernaut. And Usher celebrates his success with this live set -- the kind of album that's marketed, rather apologetically, as a treat "for the fans."

His singing voice, if you haven't guessed, isn't very strong, and it's not well complemented by the perfunctory guitar solos and endless drum fills that issue forth from his band. His popularity stems largely from his persona, and yet there is scarcely any on-stage banter. A few strange things happen along the way: there's an abortive cover of NKOTB's "Every Little Step," as well as 60 seconds of crowd screams when the music stops one verse into "Nice & Slow" (this last moment is as mystifying as a sight gag on a comedy record). The disc also features remixes of Usher's three biggest hits, none of which captures the rakish, nonchalant charm of the originals.

-- Kelefa Sanneh