As much as I love the concept of Beth Orton - the sandpaper voiced, concrete blonde, reticent royalty of British indie rock - I've found everything she's done since Central Reservation frustratingly uneven. Before I got my hands on the Comfort of Strangers, I'd read that it was a pared-down countrified affair that she recorded in just a few sessions accompanying herself on guitar or piano. Right away I began to salivate like one of Pavlov's mutts, envisioning an album full of songs like "Sugar Boy" and "I Wish I Never Saw the Sunshine." It would have been the ultimate Valentine's Day gift.

Not only was the information I read completely misleading, but after countless spins in which I offered more than the benefit of the doubt, the best thing I can offer is that Comfort of Strangers is no worse than Daybreaker. This one starts off with "Worms" a Fiona Apple knock-off that as the title suggests deals with apples (of the forbidden fruit variety) that, like the first four or five songs, clock in at a scant 2 minute running time. "Shadow of a Doubt" is the first song that bears her trademark sound, unfortunately it's of the vintage that just repeats a theme without even flirting with any kind of catchy pay dirt.

"Conceived" is obviously her attempt at writing a commercial song to rival Daybreaker's "Concrete Sky" It has the same chorus structure, but is a pale imitation at best. Then a most welcome thing happens - The Comfort of Strangers makes a game second half comeback. Starting with delicately tuneful "Absinthe" the eighth track - it's literally the first song on the album that contains a memorable vocal hook. From here on in Orton's fourth proper outing recovers most gracefully. "A Place Aside," "Safe In Your Arms," finds the long-faced and tall siren back in command of her game.

The chorus of "Shopping Trolley" sums up the experience well enough: "I think I'm gonna cry, but I'm gonna laugh about it all in time," Comfort of Strangers starts off so weak that it's enough to reduce you to tears, but by the end you'll find you've more than gotten over it. Since the album is lyrically strong throughout, but divided down the center in terms of musical quality, I was going to give it a 3 and call it good. Then again with the exception of Central Reservation all of her albums have been equally divided between really good songs and songs that can easily be taken or left, thus I'll go ahead and bump it up to 3 1/2 mainly because I'm totally nuts about her. Plus the fact that the album contains 7 good songs that are linked consecutively, makes track skipping an easy matter. Just start on track 8 and enjoy. Who knows you might even find something you like between 1 and 7? I'm sure I'll hear about it.