Despite its appearance, Clint Black's 2007 release The Love Songs isn't a compilation, it's a collection of new versions of Black's biggest and best romantic material -- supplemented by a cover of Jim Croce's "I'll Have to Say I Love You in a Song" and a duet with his wife, Lisa Hartman-Black, on "When I Said I Do" -- all given a softer, slicker spin than their original incarnations. As should be expected with any album bearing cover art by pop art icon Peter Max, the arrangements on The Love Songs have the country elements sanded out -- the fiddles and steel guitars on "Our Kind of Love" are the exception that proves the rule ("That Something in My Life" has similar instrumentation but is too slow and lazy to sound country) -- leaving behind an album that sounds so pop that it could not only slip comfortably onto adult contemporary radio, it makes Carrie Underwood seem like hard country. For those still holding on to fond memories of the Clint Black of "Killin' Time," this is bound to be a disappointment, but on its own terms The Love Songs does its job well: it sustains a romantic atmosphere and it's delivered cleanly and professionally by Black, which may be enough for fans looking for mood music and nothing more.