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This third instalment of the Ally McBeal soundtracks series, featuring performer Vonda Shepard, delivers another solid collection of emotive blues and country-inflected power ballads. The surprises here are the three tracks sung by the TV show s guest thespian Robert Downey Jr. If this soundtrack was intended to be a star vehicle, it s an old banger. Downey s contrived rasp, hardened vocals and awkward phrasing fail to impress (proving that the elongating line of talented actors with musical aspirations should confine their singing fantasies to the shower). On his dumbed-down duet with Sting on the Police classic Every Breath You Take, Downey sounds like he s straining to emulate Sting, and Sting approaches the song as a walk-through. Fortunately, Barry White s mirrorball hit You re the First, the Last, My Everything and Tina Turner s anthemic When the Heartache Is Over provide some much needed up-tempo relief from the album s sluggish middle section. The collection heads home with Shepard and label newbie Anastacia covering Gary Wright s Love is Alive in dancefloor-lite funk (although it suffers the unfortunate coincidence of being released in proximity to Joan Osborne s superior rendition from One Night at McCool s). And with Shephard s well-orchestrated interpretation of Todd Rundgren s Can We Still Be Friends?, Ally McBeal fans, despite the Downey debâcle, should be able to answer affirmatively with little hesitation. --Beth Massa