LIKE fine mature Lilac Wine Elaine Bookbinder, for it is she, just gets better.

Elkie was bombarded with e-mails from fans begging for a Blues album. What they get is a showcase of her considerable talents spanning Blues, Rock, Country all wrapped in that distinctive, yearning sound that make the Salford-born lass such a hit wherever she plays - and she's being doing it for more than 40 years after learning at the Humphrey Lyttleton jazz academy in her teens. Now turned 60 she shows no signs of flagging.

She squeezes every drop of raw emotion from lyrics on tracks such as Electric Lady, Outta The Rain and White Girl Lost In The Blues. Elkie has paid her dues to the Blues and, here, the electric lady gets the sparks flying.

Elkie plays the Grand Opera House, York, on June 16. Box office: 0870 606 3595

Updated: 11:06 Thursday, May 12, 2005