In Brief

* * Alexander O’Neal, “Love Makes No Sense,” Tabu/A&M.; O’Neal has what it takes to be the quintessential soul singer of his generation. Unfortunately, he peaked back in the mid-’80s with fiery, attitude-laden dance hits like “Fake” and “Criticize.” It makes no sense that subsequent records--including this one--should be so tepid.

New albums are rated on a scale of one star (poor), two stars (fair), three stars (good) and four stars (excellent).