Beyonce Knowles's solo debut has Corporate Flagship Project written all over it, from the extensively airbrushed portraits of the singer on the sleeve to the list of guest stars (Missy Elliott, Luther Vandross, Jay-Z, Sean Paul) to the way every track has been concocted by three, five or even seven co-writers.
Perhaps inevitably, the desperate urge to cover every musical base from dancefloor to soul-ballad means that there is barely a track here with any distinctive identity or even a tune.
Still, the lead single, Crazy in Love, has been blitzkrieging the US charts, and wall-to-wall TV coverage will do the rest (not least Knowles's pay-to-view TV spectacular a couple of weeks ago, entitled Ford Presents Beyonce Knowles, Friends and Family, Live from Ford's 100th Anniversary Celebration in Dearborn, Michigan).
If you're a passionate devotee of multinational conglomerates, this is the album for you.
