BMG
★★
A 20-song double album, the Right Here Waiting and Hazard singer’s 13th LP is divided into pop, rock, country and ballad segments. Yet, rather than show the variety of Marx’s craft, there’s an abundance of slightly staid mid-paced would-be anthems. He wrote for NSYNC, and much of Songwriter seems designed to be covered as a boyband’s earnest ballad. Even relatively pacy workouts like Shame On You are undercut by his bombastic delivery. It’s certainly slick and polished, but there’s also a sense that he’s keeping inner passions at arm’s length.