Despite multiple lawsuits and fluctuating lineups during a 14-year between-albums gap -- a period during which the original quartet was temporarily intact --
En Vogue
recorded
Electric Cafe
as the same trio that made
Soul Flower
. The creative rapport shared by
Cindy Herron
,
Terry Ellis
, and
Rhona Bennett
remains unchanged here on the sixth
full-length, a whimsical yet surprisingly steady collection of material that continuously switches eras and styles with positive energy beaming all the way through it. The six songs the singers co-wrote with their architects and career-long collaborators,
Thomas McElroy
and
Denzil Foster
, are the most adventurous. These include "Electric Cafe" itself, a strutting, coolly detached new wave-styled number that rhythmically resembles
the Romantics
more than the
Kraftwerk
song of the same title. The galloping "Life" incorporates some dubstep trickery, and "Love the Way" is high-gloss dance-pop only tenuously connected to disco, but they're both full songs at the core, with the second one highlighted by the women at their
Emotions
-like harmonizing best. They recall the Hutchinson sisters again on the
Kid Monroe
-produced soul-funk throwback "Have a Seat," featuring a compatible if inessential verse from
Snoop Dogg
. The other big-name collaborators are
Ne-Yo
, who co-writes the coasting bliss-out "Rocket," and
Raphael Saadiq
, who teamed with
Taura Stinson
to write "I'm Good," a loosely funky backdrop for primping before a celebratory night out. Going strictly by the unfussy ease with which this enjoyable album seems to have been knocked out, one wouldn't know that the group's status was ever in doubt. ~ Andy Kellman