With time and experience, Chaka Khan has broken away from her screeching Aretha Franklin imitations and found her own voice in both the musical and poetic senses of the term. Working with her own group rather than studio musicians may well have facilitated the process.

Even on AM hits like "You Got the Love," Khan displayed an oddly somber sensibility for the get-up-and-boogie material. She always seemed to be interested in men who ignored her, without ever letting you know why. Unrequited love is an old pop staple, of course, but Khan's lyrics avoided the traditional self-pity and sentimentality. On "Better Days," one of the new album's best entries, one line seems to jump out: "I don't know why/But I wanna cry every time you touch me." Perhaps because so few women in the soul/pop field write lyrics remotely like this, it seems more profound than it should. And the line is enhanced by her consummate delivery and the curious, syncopated sound of the group.

Ask Rufus is a singularly well-integrated piece of work, with none of the nervousness or over-arrangement that characterize most other recent records by black women. If anything, it's too laid-back, lacking anything as striking as "Once You Get Started" or "Sweet Thing." What holds it together is Chaka Khan's curious, wayward sensibility and astounding voice, making it one of the year's best pop albums. (RS 239)

RUSSELL GERSTEN