Out on My Own

As the title might suggest, this was Sheila Chandra's declaration of independence after scoring a U.K. hit with the group Monsoon and their song, "Ever So Lonely." Monsoon still endures as a delightful and occasionally transcendent slice of pure pop exotica, but this reissue of Chandra's 1983 album, Out on My Own, doesn't weather as well. With music still composed by Monsoon writers Steve Coe and Martin Smith, Out on My Own was born of Indian instrumentation hung on predominantly pop song structures. But with slogans masquerading as lyrics, "Unchanged Malady" being the nadir, they sound uncomfortable with the form. Nevertheless, it's evident that even with sub-par material and a rare lapse in taste by her longtime producer Coe, Chandra's voice still rings out, both radiant and assured. You can hear the germ of her future vocal style in the simplicity of "Fly to Me" and the ambient spaces of "From a Whisper ... to a Scream," as she sings Indian bols in a hallucinogenic landscape. Sheila Chandra's solo debut strains at the leash of ambitions that would wait 'till subsequent recordings like Quiet and Weaving My Ancestors Voices to be fully realized. --John Diliberto