***1/2 Joan Osborne

RIGHTEOUS LOVE

(Interscope)

Joan Osborne's debut, Relish (Mercury), with its breakthrough "One of Us," was so dependent on right-hand men it seemed possible she could be a Stepford singer. Five years and a change of labels later, she shouts back "nah!" with a soulful disc distilled from her personal and musical odyssey. Traveling the globe, she performed with the likes of the Chieftains, Pavarotti, and Dylan and absorbed the sounds and spirituality of the East -- and she's managed to bond these experiences to her R&B foundation. So rockers "Running Out of Time" and "Safety in Numbers" reveal flashes of the shimmering cadences of qawwali singing, which she studied with the late master Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan. And "Grand Illusion" draws on Hindu philosophy for its message about identity while deftly pairing such seemingly disparate elements as buttery George Harrison-style slide guitar and synth-pop keyboards.

There's also "If I Was Your Man," which cloaks the classic R&B notion of its title in Asian trappings. Osborne's delicious delivery of its chorus, drawing on the Ganges and Mississippi deltas, is among the album's highs. There are a few missteps, like the Tin Pan Alley "Hurricane," but just a few. Mostly Osborne and producer Mitchell Froom keep things interesting, pop-smart, and focused on the fine gravel of her exceptional and unmistakable voice.

-- Ted Drozdowski

(Joan Osborne performs a week from Tuesday, October 3, at Avalon. Call 423-NEXT.)