Published on Apr 7, 1997
I usually like debut albums because most of the time, they show
artists at their best; sophomore releases are usually leftovers of
the debut plus a couple of fillers, which everyone finds damn
annoying. To this date, I’ve found one exception to that rule;
Whitney Houston. No one puts fillers on
schmaltz debut albums! But she did.
With
Whitney Houston, Houston blazed the trail for the superdiva
image that would dominate the top of the charts for years to come.
This album sporting horrible pictures of a beautiful lady on the
cover also sported horrible songs by a beautiful voice.
Well, maybe not
that beautiful. Houston is clearly damaging her voice in
“You Give Good Love” and exposing a grating raw edge in almost
every single song. It was nowhere as full as it is now. And her
technique is amazingly simple; Houston songs are usually simple,
but nowadays she just does that note-chopping thing to make the
song sound like it has another verse (“Step By Step”).
It does have its moments. “Saving All My Love For You,” with its
lukewarm adultry lyrics, still gets you to pay attention to what
she’s singing. And despite the confusing subject matter of “The
Greatest Love Of All” (shifting from children to self-respect to
learning-to-love), Houston executes with sincerity and grace which
adds up to a concert favorite. “How Will I Know” is the best track
on the album, a great dance tune with little backup; Houston’s
voice has acoustic qualities.
The fillers, however, are unforgivable. The tracks produced by
Jermaine Jackson are tragic; “Someone For Me” has no substance
whatsoever, and utilizes none of Houston’s vocal specialities.
Jackson got a little selfish when he sang duet in not one but
two songs, so “Nobody Loves Me Like You Do” and “Take Good
Care Of My Heart” sound almost exactly alike. Both of them are not
much to listen to; they would’ve been a lot better off if Houston
sang alone.
“Thinking About You” is a poor attempt to bring diversity to the
album; it’s the cheezy karaoke computer music and too little
Houston. “You Give Good Love” is irritating after the first thirty
seconds, and refuses to end gracefully.
“All At Once” has such promise in the beginning ten seconds or
so, but everything falls apart from there on, no thanks to a
complete lack of emotional singing on Houston’s part. The last
track, “Hold Me” is the lowest attempt yet to fill up an album to
the 2-digits tracklist. This song goes on … and on … and on. I
would’ve laughed at the obvious insincerity between Teddy
Pendergrass and Houston if I didn’t feel so cheated.
Which is exactly how I feel … cheated.