POP PROFESSIONALISM

“22B3.” Device. Chrysalis. Holly Knight has co-written several pop hits for other people and with session guitarist Gene Black composed Rod Stewart’s “Love Touch” and Heart’s “Never.” Unfortunately, Knight and Black couldn’t leave it at that--they had to form their own trio, completed by German singer Paul Engemann. This debut LP positively reeks of pop professionalism (Mike Chapman produced) and the sort of pseudo-passion you hear in two of every three songs that show up on the sound tracks of Hollywood youth movies. Heart , like night , is a favorite word in this genre--it shows up in six of the 10 songs here, including two titles, a sure sign of no heart or feeling. If “22B3” is named after a studio, it fits--the whole album sounds as if it were done by the equipment in a studio that people never entered. Maybe that’s why they call it Device .