Songwriting is the weak link on the second album from II D Extreme, From I Extreme II Another. Lead singer D"Extra Wiley cowrote and coproduced all 15 tracks, and he comes up with neither the tunes nor the words to stand out amid the flood of R&B releases. It"s too bad, for he"s a terrific singer, using his gospel background to growl and purr with uninhibited emotion. Typical is the album"s first single, "If I Knew Then (What I Know Now)," which finds Wiley pushing and pulling at the ballad phrasing and loading it up with layers of synthesizers as if to camouflage the song"s lackluster music and predictable lyrics. II D Extreme is better off on dance numbers such as "You Got Me Goin"," where the insistent groove curbs their worse excesses. --Geoffrey Himes