Pop, blues, soul, classic 1970s R&B - all these things are brought to bear in the music of Corinne Bailey Rae, not to mention forming an indie band called Helen when she was 16 and being a big Led Zeppelin fan in her formative years.

Rae, 26, has a rich variety of experience making music, including sanctifying Primal Scream songs for her church choir, and this album sounds incredibly assured for a debut.

The key track is 'Enchantment', which is utterly bewitching with scratchy backbeat samples and sprinklings of lush keyboards the perfect setting for a voice which simply melts in the ears. It brings summer warmth to a dreich February day, oozing the same languid loving as the single 'Put Your Records On'.

Comparisons with Norah Jones are lazy and easily made, but this girl is much more about pop chutzpah than slick jazz sophistication.

'Choux Pastry Heart' is not as flaky an idea as you might suppose, gliding through love gone wrong territory with the tastiest coating on that bitter pill to be heard in a long time.

For now, it seems Bailey Rae is required - or has chosen - to stick firmly to the middle ground: songs like 'Breathless' and 'Enchantment' are so inoffensive you wonder quite how those comparisons to a hard-living icon such as Holiday could come about.

But one song, the truly enchanting 'Like a Star', left an impression that her true sound - the music she would love to make if not for the interference of producers or chart-worriers - is, if not gritty or grimy, then at least heart-baringly honest. Real soul, in other words.

A glowing introduction to a significant talent.

I ain't gonna front. I've been looking forward to this CD since I heard that beautiful slice of soul drenched honey-of-a-single' like a Star'. Yes there has been a lot of hype surrounding this young lady, based on this one toon. Well, I'm here to say that you need to believe the hype on this one. Listening to this CD conjures up images of lazy warm summer days, chillin with a loved one, or outside listening on your MP3 player.

Firstly, let's deal with the voice. She has been compared to Billie Holiday, which is high praise indeed. I'll leave the comparisons up to you. I'll stick to the music.

The aforementioned `Like a star' kicks off this CD, and is quickly followed by `Enchancement', which is dream-like lullaby of a love song, beautifully sang. The second single' Put your records on', is a feel-good uplifting summer song, with a great video (see on Corinnebaileyrae.net) `Till it happens to you' slows downs proceedings, with a blues rinsed song of heart break. Things perk up with' Trouble sleeping, a mid tempo offering, which is light and breezy. 'Call me when you get this' is one of my favourite tunes on the CD. With strings and an old school feel running all through it, I hope this is a single release. Beautiful. Things are laid bare, on the Piano led 'choux pastry heart' which highlights Corinne's vocal strength, and range. 'Breathless' is another highlight, a sweet song of the first fruits of love. 'Butterfly' is another gorgeous. mid-tempo, song relating to Corinne's relationship, with her mother. The album ends with,' Season change, another favourite, which deal with life's pain, hurts, and disappointments. All these songs are slow to mid tempo, so for those looking for the latest `club' banger, may be disappointed. This is the kind of CD that you can let play without skipping songs, and it's a grower. All these songs didn't hit me immediately, but the warmth quickly spread. On a side note, the single' Put your records on' has a bonus song' Since I've been loving you', an old Led Zepalin tune, which is available on Itunes. Piano driven slice of soul. HIGHLY RECCOMENDED.

I hate when record companies re-release albums with bonus songs or dvd. It is just a sneaky way to get more money. Quit trying to make us buy the album twice. Corinne Bailey Rae's music alone deserves 5 stars but to try to get her fans to re-buy the cd is just wrong. If I didn't already own the original, then this would be the way to go. What the record labels should do is save the bonus content for the next album or release it by itself at a lower cost.

Onto other business, She did a great cover of Björk's

and Led Zepplin's "Since I've been loving you".

I heard a few cuts from Corinne on the online jazz station 102.2 Jazz FM (London). After some deep research I decided to try the album. I ordered it as an import and it BLEW my MIND. This Angelic creature has made a beautiful CD. I have the Bonus album with all her published songs and they ALL!!!! are good. Favorites-Butterfly and Breathless. Sit down pour a glass of something nice and hold on to the one you love. Open your ears and your heart and let this lady take you for a ride.

As we entered this new decade, one genre that has seemed to disappear from the musical landscape has been R&B. Don't talk to me about Usher or Ciara because that type of R&B has been taken over Hip-Hop influences. Yeah, it was novel when Mary J. Blige invented the sub-genre over ten years ago, but now that every R&B artist has Hip-Hop producers all over their albums, it's become tiresome. Even Alicia Keys, whose first two albums were great, sometimes lets Hip-Hop take over too much in her songs. When I talk about real R&B music, I'm talking about baby making music like Boyz II Men and Babyface.

Enter Corinne Bailey Rae and her self titled debut album. The English songbird has actually been able make an R&B record in 2006 that doesn't have any Hip-Hop beats on it. Rae has been touted as a cross between Macy Gray and India.Arie but her voice is much more assessable than Gray's (though it does take a little time to get used to) and goes far beyond Arie's acoustic soul leanings. The comparison must come from the acoustic guitar driven second single Put Your Records On.

In fact on the album Rae is able to catch the vibe of R&B throughout the decade starting with the opener, Like a Star, a soft and stripped down song that evoke Billie Holiday. She then moves into the sixties with Trouble Sleeping which could have fit in easily at a time when Motown ruled. Then Call Me When You Get This with its pseudo-disco beat could have been played during the hey day of Studio 54. Breathless would have a good edition to any Anita Baker album. With the closing track, Seasons Change, Rae is even able to evoke Alicia Keys without the Hip-Hop beats.

This album may not be enough to bring back real R&B nor will it produced more babies than a Barry White release, but it's definitely worth a listen to anyone who misses silky voices and are tired of aggravated drum beats. The diversity of the album, mixing a wide range of soul music as well as a wide variety of instruments from song to song, should keep Corinne Bailey Rae in music collections for years to come.