* * * * <i> Great Balls of Fire</i> * * * <i> Good Vibrations</i> * * <i> Maybe Baby</i> * <i> Running on Empty : </i> : REGINA: RAPTURE REVISITED

* * * “ALL BY MYSELF.” Regina Belle. Columbia. Belle’s debut album contains some of the most impressive singing to come along since Anita Baker’s “Rapture” last year. In power, Belle’s vocals approach those of Patti LaBelle without the campiness or over-reaching stridence, and she approaches each song as if it were a gem in need of her sure-handed polish. While this 24-year-old’s style invites comparisons to other singers, Belle has the talent to stand toe-to-toe with any female contemporary R&B;/pop singer you might name.

Belle gives the opening track, “Show Me the Way,” a soul-baring sheen. The way her voice sails up and down the scale on a track she co-wrote, “Please Be Mine,” as Don Myrick asserts himself on saxophone, is enough to induce goose-bumps. And her scat exercise at the end of “You Got the Love” is downright Chaka Khan-ish (although the song isn’t the 1974 Rufus hit of the same name).

The real star turn on the album, though, is “So Many Tears.” Like Sade’s “Smooth Operator” from her debut album, this cut is a silky nod to a jazzier yesterday, and Belle handles it like an old pro who honed her craft in many a smoke-filled ‘50s dive. Belle’s ability to hold on to modernity while subtly caressing the past is only one of her obvious gifts.