COMPETENT KHAN

Though Chaka Khan possesses one of the best female pop voices ever captured on vinyl, her live performances are often sporadic at best--and that’s putting it kindly. In peak form, Khan surpasses bigger media darlings such as Patti LaBelle, Tina Turner and Whitney Houston. But getting her to put that across on stage is the problem. Fans of the fiery entertainer have come to expect anything and everything from her, but Khan’s show Saturday at the Universal Amphitheatre was only competent.

Looking fit though a bit subdued, and wearing thigh-high boots and a micro-mini dress--which she had the nervous habit of grabbing hold of and hiking even higher--Khan breezed confidently through songs she generally doesn’t include in her shows: “Eye to Eye,” “I’m a Woman (I’m a Backbone)” and “Everlasting Love.” That was a point in her favor; that she still doesn’t, after all these years, put the care and imagination into her stage presentations that she does into her recordings is still her biggest stumbling block.