By Nigel Packer


WHITNEY HOUSTON - JUST WHITNEY

Singers who succeed in reinventing themselves are few and far between - but Whitney Houston is one of them.

The big power ballads and quivering emotion have pretty much disappeared along with the surname - to be replaced by a tougher, more focused version.

Just Whitney completes the work began on her last album My Love Is Your Love.

And producers such as Babyface and \Missy Elliott conjure up a crisp sound to match the no-nonsense mood.

The voice has deepened with age, and the delivery is now more restrained.

Things You Say, co-written by Missy Elliott, is bluesy and spacious.

But she slips back into old habits with On My Own, a bloated ballad that sounds so familiar you half expect to see Kevin Costner burst into the room.

Elswhere, though, it's the leaner and meaner sounding Whitney Houston who wins through - and this album's all the better for it.