"Man Alive!"--the first solo outing by the legendary Stephen Stills [ tickets ] in 14 years--is an impressively eclectic affair. In fact, those who only know the artist from such ringing hippie anthems as "Love the One You're With" will certainly be surprised to hear him tackle such styles as Latin, reggae and blues.

The problem, however, is very little off of this hodge-podge collection works.

Fortunately, it doesn't take long to get to the good stuff. The album's best track--by a wide margin--is the mildly rocking lead-off cut "Ain't It Always." This likeable opener appears to be Stills' best shot at landing airplay. It's hard to picture any of the album's other tracks finding a home on radio.

Stills sounds totally out of his element in the Caribbean-inspired "Feed the People," which appears better suited for the likes of Jimmy Buffett. The singer comes across a little more naturally, but not much, with the mournful blues number "Wounded World."

The most puzzling track on this album is the "Spanish Suite," a lengthy, flamenco-flavored duet with Herbie Hancock that sounds completely out of place. It's hard to imagine how Stills was able to convince the great jazz pianist to take part in creating this 11-minute-plus oddity.

Stills must have pictures or something.