Roberta Flack featuring Donny Hathaway was apparently in progress when Donny Hathaway died last year, so the special billing is more sentimental than accurate. Hathaway sings on only two songs here, neither of which presents him as prominently as did such duets with Flack as "Where Is the Love" and "The Closer I Get to You." No matter. This is a fine album, perhaps Roberta Flack's best.

In three major numbers, Flack openly pays homage to some of today's most important pop-soul artists: to Stevie Wonder in "Don't Make Me Wait Too Long" (which Wonder wrote), to Earth, Wind and Fire in "You Are My Heaven" (which Wonder cowrote with Flack's coproducer, Eric Mercury) and to Chic in "Back Together Again," one of the most infectious dance tunes of the season.

The dreamy, romantic compositions that make up the rest of the record provide the smoothest kind of filler: classy mood music that ties together the big numbers perfectly. And Roberta Flack has found the vocal style to match: a graceful balance of pop, soul and nightclub-jazz influences that, unlike her earlier and more bland outings, sounds both impressively understated and relaxed. (RS 319)

DON SHEWEY