Beneath the Velvet Sun

Shawn Mullins’ 1998 hit, “Lullaby” may have been nothing but a dopey cliché that echoed too many of Tom Petty’s worst moments, but it made Mullins a somebody after a decade in the business as a nobody. Now he returns with a shiny new suit, a bottle of hair gel and a new album that’ll either make him a bigger somebody or a return him quietly to obscurity. The twangy “Somethin’ To Believe In”—no, it’s not a cover of the Poison tune—is a warm reminder of what was tolerable about ’70s AM radio (think Kenny Loggins’ “Amy”), though the hummable, forgettable pop of “Everywhere I Go” recalls everything that wasn’t (think everything else by Kenny Loggins). An ambitious soulful duet with Shelby Lynne (“I Know”) is evidence that Mullins has some vision, but he’s still prone to falling back on clichés far too often (“Up All Night,” “We Run”). Unless he can escape that habit soon, he’s headed back to the minor leagues.