Considering the enormous success of Dayne's debut album, "Tell it to My Heart," which produced four top ten singles and sold millions of copies, it's not surprising that her new album has already found its way to the top of the pop charts. "Can't Fight Fate" is, in many ways, a departure from the commercialized dance/pop material that saturated her first musical achievement, and which also transformed her into a sexy "pinup" pop sex symbol. Of course, though the new album does showcase Dayne's diversity as a vocalist and song stylist, it far from erases her videogenic image. If anything, Dayne has worked as hard at maintaining her sexpot demeanor as she has on her vocal range.

Nevertheless, the material on her new LP is a creative improvement over her last, and her musical ambiguity has diminished a great deal. Dayne combines the sounds of rock, pop, and R&B here, and succeeds best with the R&B songs. Most notably, "Love Will Lead You Back" and "I Know the Feeling," which are two of the most appealing tracks on the album. Her pop tunes, "With Every Beat of My Heart" and "Up All Night," are fair dance numbers, but rather contrived formulas for top 40 radio. Her attempt at rock-and-roll is dubious, at best, but she does score with "I'll Be Your Shelter" and "You Can't Fight Fate." However, the songs "Wait for Me" and "You Meant the World to Me," don't quite measure up to the rest.

Taylor Dayne proves herself as a growing musical artist with this effort, and will more than likely continue to gain popular momentum with further releases.n