Brown: Personal Flair

CHECK LIST **** Great Balls of Fire *** Good Vibrations ** Maybe Baby * Running on Empty

** 1/2BOBBY BROWN. “Don’t Be Cruel.” MCA. While the ex-New Edition member proved he could go off on his own with last year’s hit single “Girl Friend” and his debut album “King of Stage,” this follow-up LP suggests he can stay there. Assisted by some of the best R&B;/pop producers around, Brown exercises his new-found writing and producing skills to create an album with more personal flair. Like Janet Jackson in “Control,” Brown demands respect in relationships and control over his life. “I can do what I want to do/I made this money, you didn’t!” proclaims the 19-year-old in “My Prerogative.” But “Don’t Be Cruel” is also about young love in the innocent New Edition tradition, as in the slow grooves “Roni” and “All Day All Night.”