The title of Millie Jackson's new album may sound like a come-on, yet what's inside is more like a good scolding: intimate, bullying, funny and chastening. Jackson's early records had her portraying each side of one overheated romantic triangle after another. Then, last year's Live and Uncensored left her on her own. For Men Only builds off both of these roles. But the dominant tone is that of a woman who's been through every possible sexual war, survived them all and can now turn what she's learned into a lesson.

God knows, Jackson is one of the few people with the authority to make such proselytizing not only credible but vital. While she clearly loves disco's showbiz flash and slickness, she's never submitted to the reactionary aesthetic that says disco women have to sing pretty. Unlike Donna Summer, Millie Jackson doesn't revert to pop (i.e., white) phrasing when she does ballads. Instead, her big, brawling voice – with its gospel-shouter highs and husky, near-subterranean lows – threatens to burst the seams of every well-mannered arrangement that coproducer Brad Shapiro sends at her.

Though it tends to get a little thin in spots, the first side of For Men Only is held together by Jackson's extraordinary vocal power. Her celebrated raps link the songs into an effective whole. In every cut, she manages some memorable moments. Especially fine is "If That Don't Turn You On" ("turn me loose" goes the rest of the line, and the way Jackson sings it, there's no question whose loss it'd be should the star leave).

Side two, however, is the real prize: five great tracks, without a bad minute among them. The smoldering fatalism of "A Fool's Affair" is a deceptive start, because what sets the pace here is a roar of pride, desire, exhilaration and sexual command that Jackson uses to kick off the next number. "You Must Have Known I Needed Love" utilizes some of Millie Jackson's most abandoned singing against a back ground of surging horns and an irresistible dance riff. But the way she throws the tune away so quickly tells you that she's after a lot more. And in "Despair" and "Not on Your Life," she finds it. "Despair" is pure gospel, sung from the inside of a nightmare (when Jackson cries out, "Why don't you save us?" she sounds as if she's calling from a sinking lifeboat). "Not on Your Life" moves from a superbly erotic recollection of romance to the fury of betrayal. It's the most potent sexual de nunciation since Marianne Faithfull's scathing "Why D'Ya Do It."

Jackson steps back to contemplate her handiwork ("Hey. fellas You see how I handled that situation?") before driving the final nail with "Ain't No Comin' Back." But the song sounds less like a threat than a vow. It's a perfect ending to an LP that, despite occasional flaws, gives us a magnificent singer putting her talents to work on the most tough-minded, emotionally complex material of her career. For Men Only turns Millie Jackson from a challenger into a champion and an authentic heroine. (RS 324)

TOM CARSON