It's hard to say whether Street Player is intended to show off the versatility of Rufus or prepare listeners for the presumed departure of Chaka Khan. In the past, Rufus has been little more than Khan's backup band, a situation akin to that which Janis Joplin shared with Big Brother and the Holding Company. Street Player seems to be an attempt at establishing these neglected musicians as a varied, self-contained entity.

Of the album's ten songs, two are instrumentals and four feature Khan in vocal duets with lead guitarist Tony Maiden. But the band can't bring off its increased role: the instrumentals are filler, and Maiden is an awkward vocalist. Most of the LP is low-keyed, and even Khan sounds subdued. The love songs are nice but hardly memorable, and the production lacks the easy grace of its model—the work of Maurice White. Chaka Khan has been one of the most iconoclastic pop singers of the Seventies, but she has yet to make a substantial album. It's about time. (RS 262)

JOE MCEWEN