Chanté Moore - This Moment Is Mine (1999)

This Moment Is Mine finds Chante Moore at the top of her game, crafting an alluring contemporary soul album that manages to avoid most of the cliches of the genre. Not that it strays from formula, however. As a matter of fact, the 14 songs that comprise This Moment Is Mine unmistakably follow the pattern for urban soul, whether it's the slow grooves of the ballads or the midtempo dance cuts. The difference is delivery. Moore never shouts or engages in histrionic caterwauls -- she keeps her focus on the song at hand, delivering each line as if she has lived it. That, combined with the sublime production (most of it by Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis) and an excellent selection of songs, makes This Moment Is Mine a first-rate urban soul album. It may not be perfect -- it does have some filler -- but it's certainly more alluring than most of its peers.~Stephen Thomas Erlewine