Lots of Energy, Little Payoff for Hawkins

The Rolling Stones once declared, “It’s the singer, not the song,” suggesting that performance is what matters in pop, leaving the actual material a distant second. That philosophy has worked wonders for Madonna, so why not for Sophie B. Hawkins?

As a personality, Hawkins is easily more interesting than her music. At the Galaxy Theatre in Santa Ana on Sunday, she was an energetic, almost hyper presence, singing smooth, unremarkable, R&B-based; pop with a brassy flair.

Her aim, as it has been since her 1992 debut, was to be provocative, and she preached sexual healing in sometimes suggestive songs that usually concerned the endless pratfalls of romance. Hawkins’ voice enjoys some husky range and power, but for an artist of her ability and professed ambition, the payoff falls short.

On Sunday, melodies and musical ideas were more mundane than moving, with a few exceptions such as the memorable, gospel-flavored lullaby “As I Lay Me Down.”

The most redeeming element was Hawkins herself, who put nervous energy into every move, jumping with charming clumsiness from percussion to keyboards to guitar to xylophone. By the time she performed “Damn I Wish I Was Your Lover,” the torrid Top 10 single that launched her career, Hawkins was crawling desperately on the floor--a dramatic image, but with otherwise lightweight material, Hawkins was less than the sum of her parts.

* Sophie B. Hawkins plays tonight at 9 at the House of Blues, 8430 Sunset Blvd., West Hollywood. Sold out. (213) 650-1451.