Personality, as the famous philosopher Jules Winfield once said, goes a long way.

If anybody in the hip-hop and soul ranks has personality, it's Macy Gray. In fact, better make that personalities. Funny and funky, sexy and silly, hilarious and homicidal -- quirky diva Gray is all of these things and more on her third album The Trouble With Being Myself.

Too bad the one thing she isn't yet is a great songwriter. As always, her instantly identifiable helium-and-sandpaper rasp -- part Betty Boop, part Rod Stewart, part Carol Channing -- is a spectacular, stunning instrument that mesmerizes the listener. Her lyrics, which run the gamut from the frankly sexual (Come Together) to the frankly shocking (the ironically titled My Fondest Childhood Memories), definitely stick in your brain, too.

But as it was on her 2001 album The Id, the music here doesn't match her lyrical courage, originality and adventure. Most of these celebratory tunes are perfectly servicable but fairly generic R&B and hip-hop grooves that seem designed more for their chart potential than for their compatibility with Gray's words. So once again, despite being one of the most exciting and individual voices in contemporary music, Gray remains a talent in search of a worthy collaborator.

After a few sessions with The Trouble With Being Myself, it seems like the real trouble with being Macy Gray is she has too much personality for her own good. (More on Macy Gray)

Track Listing
1. When I See You
2. It Ain't The Money
3. She Ain't Right For You
4. Things That Made Me Change
5. Come Together
6. She Don't Write Songs About You
7. Jesus For A Day
8. My Fondest Childhood Memories
9. Happiness
10. Speechless
11. Screamin'
12. Every Now And Then