A Drifting Phoebe Snow at the Coach House

The nice thing about Phoebe Snow’s recent comeback album, “Something Real,” is that it freed her to do some classic soul-belting in the Aretha Franklin vein, without sacrificing the communicative possibilities of her mid-’70s incarnation as a sensitive, introspective balladeer.

The problem with Snow’s concert Tuesday night at the Coach House in San Juan Capistrano (the first show of a three-night stand that winds up with a performance tonight at 8) was that her vocal gymnastics tended to get in the way of intimacy and communication.

On “Something Real,” the 37-year-old singer’s first album in eight years, Snow deals forthrightly with the problem of breaking away from the swooning romantic dependency reflected in her 1974 hit, “Poetry Man,” and replacing it with a romanticism informed by self-reliance and good sense.

By building her set into a back-and-forth musical dialogue on that issue, Snow might have delivered a memorable, resonant show. Instead, she was content to let the 70-minute performance serve mainly as a showcase for her memorably rangy voice. In doing so, Snow departed from the relatively direct vocal style that serves her well on “Something Real,” and sang with all manner of Baroque adornment. Her repeated swoops, trills and sustains on notes just this side of dog-whistle range made for an impressive, crowd-pleasing fireworks display. But too often these devices distracted from the mood and meaning of a song.

Snow’s seven-man band sounded stiff early in the show. Later, it failed to jolt life into “Cardiac Arrest,” Snow’s attempt at a Rolling Stones-style chunky rocker. But the band provided suitably restrained backing on Snow’s few quiet tunes and found a more assured, supple touch on some easy-rolling up tempo R&B; numbers later in the set. Jimmy Roberts’ sax solos were a highlight.

Between songs, the wryly affable Snow betrayed a certain ambivalence about being identified as a revealer of intimate truths.

Introducing “Something Real,” a quiet song that conveyed both a yearning for love and a self-assertive insistence that anything less than a healthy relationship won’t do, Snow spoke about her own hard-won realization that, after “so many wrong relationships,” she is better off remaining alone until a right one comes along. Snow followed it with a nicely restrained, jazz-inflected reading of “Something Real” that provided the show’s most involving moment.

Later, she made fun of tiresomely obsessive fans who think they need to establish a personal “soul mate” relationship with a performer whose music speaks to their own inner concerns. It made one wonder whether a wish to discourage that tendency might have had something to do with Snow’s decision to emphasize brassier R&B; and showy vocal turns.

With more emphasis on the songs, and a more sparingly judicious use of her wide assortment of technically accomplished vocal tricks and tropes, Snow should be able to achieve a satisfying concert mix of high-octane soul and dreamy introspection--all woven around her search for romance built on self-R-E-S-P-E-C-T.

Phoebe Snow sings tonight at 8 at the Coach House, 33157 Camino Capistrano, San Juan Capistrano. Tickets: $27.50. Information: (714) 496-8930.

ORANGE CADILLAC: There are signs of new activity stirring on Orange County’s chronically anemic original rock nightclub scene, with the Pink Cadillac in Anaheim the latest venue seeking to fill a largely unmet demand.

Since opening in August, the club at 420 S. Brookhurst St. has been opening its doors to local bands for Friday night concerts. But owner Ray Camacho says he has much bigger plans for the Pink Cadillac, which has three separate rooms with a total capacity of more than 800.

“We’d like to do something like Bogart’s does,” Camacho said, referring to the Long Beach club that has become a prominent stop on the Southern California concert circuit, featuring a varied and imaginative schedule of touring rockers and local performers. Camacho said he is installing a permanent stage and sound and lighting system in the biggest of the Pink Cadillac’s rooms, with an eye toward turning it into a 500-capacity concert hall. He estimated that it will take 8 to 10 weeks “to do it right before we can get a good-sized act in here.” Meanwhile, Camacho, a Long Beach resident, has been booking local bands in the Pink Cadillac’s second-largest room, which has a capacity of 225. Bad Mariachis plays there Friday night.

The club also has been featuring dance music from disc jockeys on Fridays and Saturdays, a schedule that will expand to Sundays as of Oct. 22.

Camacho, 30, is a former UCLA music student and rock musician (he says he also was a member of the Bolivian wrestling team in the 1984 Olympics). He said he decided to open a club in Orange County because “this place needs it.”

“I’m fully into the music, all of it,” he said. “I like everything from David Crosby to Royal Crescent Mob; from Skid Row to Louis Jordan.”