Killing me softly, indeed. Isn't that the Roberta Flack style? She draws out emotion like a doctor taking a blood sample: not enough to drain you, rarely enough to make you faint with the release, painlessly, professionally. Too often, however, the approach is so painless it's nearly anesthetic; seconds after you feel the first prick of emotion, you're asleep. It's too calculated, too restrained for my taste (I'd rather be stunned than soothed) but god knows it has its appeal. At her best, Flack creates a dramatic tension that keeps her songs taut and she moves through them with the careful grace of a tightrope artist. Nothing to gasp about, but cool, intelligent and impressive in an understated sort of way.

"Killing Me Softly with His Song" is like that: the emotions perfectly, delicately balanced. Roberta's style is just right for the attenuated feeling of the song and Joel Dorn's production is rich enough to flesh out the material without upsetting the balance. Flack makes the song believable, even touching, partly, perhaps, because it reflects so well on her own approach and desired effect.

Though it's taken to unnecessary lengths, the approach works nearly as well on Leonard Cohen's "Suzanne," at 9:45, the album's longest cut. Again, this is ideal material for Flack: Her version is more dramatic than Cohen's unaccented reading but she preserves an interesting flatness of tone that is part of the song's mysterious flavor. Flack's arrangement, with strings added by Eumir Deodato, is lush, at moments almost overripe, but always subordinate to the rich, deep directness of her vocal.

When the technique doesn't work, the songs turn to sentimental slush, utterly soporific. "I'm The Girl" just barely survives this deadly treatment but Janis Ian's "Jesse" gets it full in the face and goes down without a whimper, which is perhaps just what the song deserves.

Two of the album's best cuts are departures from the trademark slow style. One, "No Tears (in the End)," is the closest Flack has come to a discotheque record: a bright upbeat number with snappy vocals and snappier instrumentation. I suspect this cut will attract me long after I've become bored with the rest of the album. Almost as satisfying is "River" by Eugene McDaniels, who's given Roberta some of her best material ("Reverend Lee," "Sunday and Sister Jones"). The song builds gradually with a strong production and unusually robust vocals to a near-gospel pitch, handclapping and all. In recent concert appearances, Flack has begun to emphasize this uptempo side of her work, getting up and dancing with a tambourine as well as sitting dramatically enthroned at the piano. Both sides now. I only wish her album were as equally and successfully divided. (RS 144)

VINCE ALETTI