Best female vocals on CD

Etta james, "Love's Been Rough on Me" is great.

Sorry, that capital J "James" (she deserves the respect).

Just heard a song on the radio, and - in the jangle pop category - nominate Harriet Wheeler of the Sundays (early-mid 90's group) as an amazing female vocalist. Offhand, can't think of any other tha can so effortlessly glide between notes, not to mention her delightful English accent.

You may have heard "Hideous Towns" or "Here's Where the Story Ends" from their debut album (Reading, Writing, and Arithmetic). IMHO - a great album, and well worth checking out. Pity they didn't release more than 3 albums.

Also, I'll add a vote to the two others for Joan Armatrading. It's perfectly mated to her guitar playing - and pretty unique (deep and clear alto). I've only got her greatest hits album - but it looks like her last album (Lovers Speak) got some raves.

It occurs to me that all these recommendations don't do a hoot of good if you never get to listen to the tunage ... So (thanks to the wonders of modern technology), as a brief intro to the Sundays you can click the following Amazon link for Reading, Writing, and Arithmetic and scroll down to "Listen to Samples" to hear snippets of the first 4-5 tracks using Real Player, Windows Media Player or whatever ... Doesn't do Harriet justice that a listening booth experience would, but it'll give you a taste so you can rush out and buy it.

I highly suggest " JACINTHA is Her Name" CD ALBUM. Groove Note GRV1014-3 (SACD). Excellent sound recording engineering and music selection. My system: ML Ascent; Mc402; SFL line 2 SE; Pioneer CLD-D604 Laser disc/CD player.