Webster's defines the id as "the part of the psyche that is the source of instinctual impulses and demands for satisfaction." For Macy Gray, it is simply "what you do before you think. The real you . . . unedited."

After a Grammy, multiplatinum sales of her debut album "On How Life Is" and a two-year break, Gray is back with "The Id" (Epic), on which she takes soul a step further and charts the dangers, joys and hopes behind the "instinctual impulses" we all share.

You may have heard the first single, the laid-back, soulful "Sweet Baby" (featuring Erykah Badu), but it doesn't really convey the true tone of the album or Gray's expansive musical range. Take the track "Sexual Revolution," on which gospel segues into doo-wop, followed by salsa and ballad-rock themes, and all this before Gray even steps in with the vocals.

Yes, everyone has something to say about Gray's vocals, which quiver somewhere between Billie Holiday and Aretha Franklin. Fair enough, but why have no critics mentioned her wit? Consider the lyrics: "Love is butter/Won't you be my bread?" or the track "Gimme All Your Lovin' or I Will Kill You."

And what about her eclecticism? "The Id" travels in and out of aural textures and places that very few artists would dare to consider. Destiny's Child would never touch the terrain of a song like "Oblivion," which weaves Eastern-European folk rhythms on a techno-dance groove. This is music without borders.

There are guest appearances -- Slick Rick on "Hey Young World, Part 2," Angie Stone and Mos Def on "My Nutmeg Phantasy," Sunshine Anderson on "Don't Come Around," etc. -- but this is clearly Miss Gray's game. "The Id," a fearless handling of that notoriously difficult sophomore challenge, proves she is more than just a novel singer. On "The Id," Macy Gray has followed all the right impulses.