Not That Kind
After early support fromElton Johnand  success across the UK and much of Europe, Anastacia's debut album gets  a U.S. relaunch with one additional track. MoreChaka KhanthanMariah Carey, the  Chicago-born Anastacia brings both a powerful voice and a sense of  restraint to these performances. There's no doubt that this is a grown  woman, not another teenager copyingBritney Spears' attempts to conjureJanet Jackson. All  that said, something unconvincing lurks inNot That Kind. The  singer (and co-writer of most of these songs) has obviously done her  homework on '70s soul music; "Don'tcha Wanna" owes enough toStevie Wonder's "I Believe (When I Fall in Love It Will Be Forever)" to occasion a  co-writing credit to the maestro. It's simply that she relies too much on  mannerism to fully give herself to the material. She sounds at home  enough within these modernized pastiches of everything from late  Atlantic-periodArethatoDonna Summer, but  never really socks one home the way a complete original likeMacy Graywould.  In turn, that failure makes the attitudinizing of "Yo Trippin'" and  "Why'd You Lie to Me" fall flat.--Rickey Wright