Noa is brilliant, no doubt, and so much better that even her fellow Middle Eastern chanteuse Ofra Haza (who passed away in 2000 - she gave us one of the best albums of the 1980's in the form of 'Shaday'). Shes one of the few who use her voice as an instrument and not as a machine to belt out vocals. On this debut American CD (which by the way, almost went gold) she shows us why the Middle Eastern vocal technique works well within any musical medium.

This is most evident on her native Hebrew tracks, which form the best part of this record. The downside is that Noa's songwriting is really quite pathetic. Alongwith Gil Dor, shes crafted songs that seem more the work of a fifth-grader than a strong Eastern woman hoping to captivate the States solely based on talent (and a measure of good looks). This is typified on 'I don't know', the sets' opener, and arguably the most insipid of all tracks on this CD set. Other turkeys include the embarrasing 'Lady Night', which reeks of poor grammar and unbelievably silly imagery.

However, if you don't count those weak tracks, 'Noa' is a wonderful achievement. Her finest moments come on the blissfully happy 'Eye Opener', which is sung in Hebrew, and the tuneful 'Mishaela', which I consider the finest song on here. Theres also something called 'Uri', which sounded interesting to begin with, but Noa falters midway through this beautiful track and never quite regains composure.

Another marvel is 'Ave Maria', Noa's own take on the classic - only she twists it out of recognition and makes it all her own. Her vocals here are incomparable, though once again the lyrics do make you wonder if she had no lyrical advisors at all. It sounds like a hymn, but has lyrics like 'Things look pretty bad down here', in the most inappropriate context. Ah well, thats a small price to pay for the other goodies that Noa offer us.