Auberge (1991)

He is middle-aged, talented as hell, and you've never heard of him. Such is life for Chris Rea in these United States — where, despite oodles of admiration from every other corner of the world, he haven't had a fair hearing in 10 years. Englishman Rea had a pop hit in '78 with ''Fool (If You Think It's Over)'' and then vaporized; he has since become a major European star who gets compared to Dire Straits a lot. Rea is an interesting writer. In Auberge, even a simple song like ''Gone Fishing,'' about relationships gone sour, has an ominous undercurrent. So what have we got? It may be unfair to use the Y word — after all, the guy sounded like this before most young urbanites went pro — but this album, slickly produced, is aimed directly at the heart of the thirtysomething nation. B+