Jules Shear’s Got a Group Again . . . Edie Brickell’s Got Feelings . . . Sam Brown’s Got Good Genes : Sam Brown’s Soul

“S top! “ is right. The title of Sam Brown’s debut album is apt enough; the way this 23-year-old English singer’s voice glides from a wistful, breathy whisper to a wild wail full of soul may indeed halt unsuspecting listeners dead in their tracks. The first American single--also titled “Stop!”--is a slow blues stunner that takes its cool time approaching its snowy emotional peaks. With a nice, relaxing pit stop at a historical monument called the Organ Solo, it’s the kind of song we haven’t heard the likes of on Top 40 radio in years and years.

“Is that a good thing or a bad thing?” asked Brown in a thick working-class accent, asking about her chances here.

Hate to break it to you, kid, but the last time we remember a genuine Hammond organ digression gracing a hit single here in America, Dan Quayle was still slaving over a hot typewriter for the National Guard.

In Europe, Brown at least has more of a well-known lineage to help get her foot in the door. Brother Pete Brown, who co-produced and co-wrote much of the album, has worked with the Mighty Lemon Drops and Soup Dragons. Mother Vicki Brown, who also appears on the album, is a veteran backup singer who dragged little Sam to her recording debut--on a Small Faces album--at the age of 12. And father Joe Brown, now a TV celebrity, was a pop singer of note in the early ‘60s and a contemporary of Cliff Richard and other pre-Beatles English faves.

“It’s boring, innit?” suggested Brown of the litany of family successes.

Perhaps, but “Stop!” isn’t: Backed by eclectic, mostly non-synthetic textures, Brown combines Annie Lennox’s hot-and-cold R&B; sensuality with the smooth, ‘60s pop tones of current Dusty Springfield-ish critical faves such as Marti Jones and that other female Sam, Sam Phillips. Brown’s voice is always upfront and intimate. Besides great pipes, she has a little engineering secret.

“I’ve never really liked to hear a vocal with loads of reverb on it. But we do use ‘compression.’ Basically, it presses all the dynamics together so that you can hear the quiet bits as loudly as you hear the loud bits. You don’t have to sing loud to make something sound loud.”