The woman I am,' Chaka Khan's new album, is cause for celebration because it features her singing catchy, rhythmically compelling material in a crystal-clear voice for the first time in ten years. On the Rufus-reminiscent first single, "Love You All My Lifetime," a hiphoppish jam anchored by Seventies-vintage wah-wah guitar, Khan fills out the sparse rhythm tracks with call-and-response three-part background vocals before blaring over its bridge. The playful "Everything Changes" finds her mischievously trading scats with a track of sampled horns and alternating on the verses between her charcoal-alto range and her churchy upper register.

Khan shows off her jazz chops on "Give Me All," embellishing the tune's break with thick harmonies and counter-pointing its saxophone solo with effortless blues-scale obbligatos. Her tight backgrounds and inspired improvisations add pastels to the percussive reggae-style groove of "Telephone." Khan's phrasing and nonpareil dynamics even bring to life the album's sore points – "You Can Make the Story Right" (a never-ending midtempo) and "Don't Look at Me That Way" (a boring Diane Warren ballad).

Believe the hype: Chaka is back on the block – and bravas are in order. (RS 628)

GORDON CHAMBERS