Well, I like Helen Love a lot -- I've owned the first two RADIO HITS 
singles comps on Damaged Goods for over a decade, and to this day, I 
adore their cheeky ripoff of the Jam's "Boy About Town," a snarky 
dissing of a trendy poseur called "Girl About Town" -- but again, they 
have as little to do with Nicole Atkins as Rufus Wainwright does. 
Comparing unalike artists to each other and saying that one is 
intrinsically better than the other doesn't get anyone anywhere.  You 
might as well say that John Coltrane is better than the Beatles: 
certainly to some people he is, but they're working in such completely 
different styles that that statement is just useless.

And honestly, I like Helen Love fine, but they're not a patch on the 
Pooh Sticks.  See, THAT'S a comparison that's worthwhile, because 
Helen Love and the Pooh Sticks (well, excepting MILLION SELLER and 
that not-really-very-good last album, perhaps) were in fact doing 
stylistically very similar stuff.  But again, I just don't see enough 
points of comparison between Helen Love and Nicole Atkins to bother 
making the comparison.

S