REGINA BELLE “Stay With Me.” Columbia ** 1/2: <i> Albums are rated on a scale of one star (poor) to five (a classic).</i>

Put Belle up against any of the other new breed of black female singers on the scene today and she won’t suffer by comparison. While she’s not quite on the Anita Baker level, Belle is good enough to leave other talented young thoroughbreds--from Joyce Sims and Mica Paris to D’Atra Hicks--stalled at the starting gate when she wraps her formidable, velvet-edged vocal cords around a song that’s worthy of her.

This year, Belle and former Kool & the Gang member James (J. T.) Taylor became a fixture on urban radio playlists with “All I Want Is Forever,” a sugary-sweet, baby-it’s-you love song that’s as tough to resist as bonbons at bedtime. It helped Belle’s album reach No. 1 on the black charts.

But only a few of the other tracks on the LP rank with that one as a guilty pleasure. There’s “Baby Come to Me,” which has a soothing, sexy ring to it, and “What Goes Around,” a sophisticated little vehicle that she comfortably rides around in, but most of the other tracks--particularly the up-tempo ones--are way too pedestrian. Given lushly orchestrated, adult-oriented ballads to interpret, this rising contender never fails to meet the challenge--but the odds against her are tough when Belle strays from her basic strengths.