When the dust settles from the latest British invasion, Paul Young probably still won't have worn out his welcome in America. A better singer than any of those other smooth, carefully coifed Englishmen who've been crooning atop synth washes in the last few years, Young mixes cool technopop and warm soul. The album's showpiece, an old Marvin Gaye song called "Wherever I Lay My Hat (That's My Home)," hit Number One in Britain and ought to have crossover power here – if Boy George can appeal to both pop and R&B fans, Young certainly can. As soulful and expressive a singer as either Gaye or George, Young raids American black-music classics and gives them contemporary settings, losing none of the emotional richness of the raw, original versions. Booker T.'s "Iron Out the Rough Spots" is made thoroughly new: Young's sexy, soulful vocal struts through the song while tweetering birds, shattering glass and lively marimbas fill out the mix. Even the old chestnut "Love of the Common People" has a bright, modern feeling: a woman's panting becomes a textural rhythm instrument through the use of an emulator, and the backup vocals chime like bells.

But this debut album from the former lead singer of a band called the Q-Tips is not without dreck: a whole slew of filler songs with titles like "Sex," "Tender Trap" and "Oh Women"–deceptively romantic titles for chilly songs–are nothing more than collages of studio tricks. Too much of the time, Young's musical director, Ian Kewley, shows off what he knows about vocoders, emulators and synthesizers and covers up what is this record's worthiest effect–Young's beautiful voice. (RS 407)

DEBBY MILLER