Contrary to post-Dylan common wisdom, there's nothing wrong with being "just" a singer. English rocker Paul Young proved himself to be one of the best on his first two albums, and it would have been perfectly respectable for him to stay put behind a lead-vocal mike. Given all the good singers who insist on becoming lousy producers and songwriters, in fact, it might have been a wise choice as well...

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...

Few British rock singers have gotten off to the soulful start Paul Young managed with his debut, No Parlez. At the time, Young seemed like the era's perfect blue-eyed soulster, possessing not only the requisite vocal power but an interpretive ability that equaled his inspirations.

Or so it seemed then. With his second album, The Secret of Association, Young's standing as British soul's great white...