By Lindsay Christ

To most, Eric Benét is the philandering sex addict ex-husband of actress Halle Berry. Surprisingly, he’s also a mediocre R&B singer. Benét’s latest album “Love & Life” is decent overall, but the few bad songs are so pitiful that it unfortunately puts a damper on the entire CD.

Despite the fact that he himself described the album as “going to be the cause for a baby boom,” one should overlook that atrocious statement and give the album a listen. Although it starts out poorly, with the gospel-like “Love Patience & Time,” whose lyrics spit out cliché after cliché, the album quickly picks up.

The next three tracks, “The Hunger,” “You’re the Only One” and “Don’t Let Go,” are solid R&B songs, with smooth, steady beats and relaxed rhythms. However, on “Everlove,” he sounds like a bad combination of Craig David and Brian McKnight.

As for the track “Chocolate Legs,” the title itself speaks volumes. The shame of it is that it could have been a decent track, but the lyrics are awful. The same goes for “Iminluvwichoo,” a song reminiscent of an ’80s pop track but features a creepy chipmunk voice that ruins the entire song.

Decade-influenced songs seem to be somewhat of a trend, as “Weekend Girl,” the song before it, has a ’70s soul feel that definitely gives the already catchy song an extra push. On “Spanish Fly,” Benét infuses R&B and Latin, but once again crude, poor lyrics prevent the song from being a solid track. The rest of the album is listenable, and he even sounds like a Backstreet Boy in “Sing to Me,” (which is not necessarily a bad thing) but nothing that deserves extreme praise.

There is no denying that Benet has talent and potential to be force to be reckoned with, but he needs to hire a lyricist before that happens.

R&B singer Eric Benet’s has troubles with the lyrics on his new album “Love & Life” (www.soulbounce.com)