Grade: C

Beyonce's new double-album "I Am ... Sasha Fierce" is a concept album on which the five songs on one CD ("I Am ...") are intimate ballads and six songs on the other ("Sasha Fierce") illustrate the 27-year-old's sexed-up, partying alter ego. (A deluxe edition with 16 tracks is also available.)

While Beyonce's fluid R&B-trained voice sounds great, the songs are hit-and-miss. "If I Were a Boy" and her take on "Ave Maria" are the vocal highlights of the first disc, while the second disc is more fun with hummable songs like "Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It") and "Radio."

But most of the rest is forgettable filler, with bland lyrics that strive, without success, to cure Beyonce's split personality and let us know who she really is.

-- David burger