When Amy Winehouse took the American music scene by storm, we should have known it would have started a trend. But don't tell Duffy she's merely a knock off of the oft-troubled princess of modern soul.

Fact is Duffy isn't much like Amy at all.

Within the realm of musical comparatives, the twentysomething Welsh blonde is way more like a Dusty Springfield or a Lulu. Within the spectrum of behavior, Duffy and Amy are again not close. At least so far.

However, critically, they're on par. Rolling Stone gave Duffy's "Rockferry" four out of five stars. Given that RS can be rather stingy with a high mark, it was quite the impressive feat for a woman who, right now, is Britain's biggest pop seller of the year.

Bigger than Coldplay. Again, at least so far.

A big reason for Duffy's success commercially is her hit single, "Mercy." It sounds like a musical cousin to something Amy would have done, and that likely bought Duffy some airplay here in the States.

Mercy - Duffy

But the big reason that "Mercy" won't be it for Duffy is that "Rockferry" is one of those CDs that sets a mood. "Mercy" is by a mile the most commercial track on the album, and most of the songs are brooding, gray, distinctly British tracks rendering images of 1960s blue-eyed female soul.

Tracks like "Rockferry," "Stepping Stone," "Hanging On Too Long" and "Syrup & Honey" are most certainly derivative of the aforementioned 1960s icons. However, Duffy generally does them proud, even if "Syrup & Honey" is in fact nearly too syrupy to bear.

Personally, I loved Track No. 2, called "Warwick Avenue," and I particularly loved the video:

That track brings to mind collaborations between Burt Bacharach and Dionne Warwick.

My favorite song on the entire CD though -- and you have to get the album to get this track -- is a bonus track called "Save It For Your Prayers." It's just Duffy and a piano, and the beauty of this piano is that it sounds like a piano that might be in your house instead of a studio. It's nice and gritty.

Save It For Your Prayers - Duffy

Perhaps the only downside to Duffy's emergence in 2008 is that she will be compared to Amy Winehouse. And in that contest, nearly any female will lose musically.

However, Duffy is a shoo-in for 2008 Best New Artist. And while "Rockferry" is an impressive CD in terms of the gray, 1960s-ish mood it sets, it's also impressive in that it is not derivative of Amy Winehouse.

That separation might please Duffy the most.