and overdubbed in parts. Several cuts use horns in the style of "Oh My My," and drummer Kirk Bruner provides the impetus of delayed percussion to songs that might otherwise have come off as strict MOR ballads. Poncia's grand style production (he also cowrote one song and sings backup) has given Manchester a confidence and discipline that were only intermittently in evidence on her previous albums; her tendencies toward vocal excess and flatness of pitch have been eradicated, while her idiosyncratic phrasing and intimate approach to a ballad remain intact.

Melissa's material is evenly divided between uptempo party songs and ballads. For the former, Manchester has adopted Stevie Wonder as muse. "Stevie's Wonder," a pastiche of Wonder's melodic chromaticism, amorphous spirituality and phased vocal sound, makes an engaging, if superficial tribute. Wonder and Syreeta Wright's "Love Havin' You Around" cooks behind Trevor Lawrence's good-timey horn arrangements, and Manchester's "I Got Eyes," intentionally cops part of its tune from "Don't You Worry 'bout a Thing."

While Manchester's affectionate tributes to Wonder sound pleasant enough, it is as a singer and writer of ballad tunes that she really shines. Among her original songs, two, with lyrics by Carole Bayer Sager—"We've Got Time" and "Midnite Blue"—are especially beautiful. The sophisticated melody of "We've Got Time" flows into a bridge that modulates the song a step higher into its conclusion—an effective dramatic format. Similar in spirit, "Midnite Blue" works as one continous hook, its lovely phrases repeated by Manchester and Poncia's overdubbed chorus. Two other ballads — "Just Too Many People" and "This Lady's Not Home"—though not quite as arresting, amplify the theme persistent throughout Manchester's work: Perseverance, self-containment and faith in the future are the means toward serenity.

With the exception of Manchester's poignantly torchy rendition of Randy Newman's "I Don't Want to Hear It Anymore," written 12 years ago and given an equally compelling treatment by Dusty Springfield in 1969, Melissa is much stronger musically than verbally. An intuitive, introspective artist more concerned with mood than with specifics, Manchester has yet to find a collaborator who can translate her feelings into better than serviceable lyrics. Carole Bayer Sager, who has written excellent ly