CHAKA STRUTS STUFF

“DESTINY.” Chaka Khan. Warner Bros. When given her head--and the right piece of material--ain’t nobody badder than Chaka Khan, whose flamboyant, spontaneously combustible soul stylisms and jazz flights of firebird bebop make her the wailingest siren on the black music scene.

Crossing the blistering techno-funk of “I Feel for You” with the bumptious R&B; groove of “Ain’t Nobody”--not coincidentally, her last two monster hits--the overall sound of “Destiny” is, ahem, extremely commercial. Like a can press that learned how to dance.

Khan’s current single, “Love of a Lifetime,” written and co-produced by Anglo funkophiles Scritti Politti (!), sets the tone and pace. In other words, throw down something tough and give Chaka just enough room to strut her stuff.

While not everything on the album works so well, “My Destiny,” a celebration of self-determination that builds to a palpably physical intensity, and “So Close,” a rudimentary riff-rocker with an undeniably Zeppelinesque presence, are definite highlights.

If talent, rather than hair style or pedigree, were all there was to it, this leather-lunged songbird would be more than just another double-platinum-selling cult heroine. Not the worst situation to be in, but one that this album, for all its serpentine fire, seems unlikely to change.