Consumer Guide Album

Mary J. Blige: Good Morning Gorgeous [Mary Jane Productions/300, 2022]
As I figure it, Mary's studio albums run about 50-50. So it's no surprise that when this one sounded good enough to inspire a compare-and-contrast with 2017's weak Strength of a Woman I very nearly bogged down in analogies that weren't there. Absolutely this very good album is superior while the other isn't very good at all. But it's an unmitigated must-buy only for fond reminiscers who've outgrown their completist tendencies. That said, highlights do include the 50-year-old checking herself out in the mirror in the title track (although not in any of the six gorgeous booklet photos) and a collab with dat dumbass DJ Khaled that clocks in at a powerful 2:39 (three-minute pop lives!). A-