GO! ROCK: WHITNEY TAKES A GAMBLE WITH SASSY NEW SOUND

RECORD-BREAKER: Whitney Houston, who boasts record album sales during her music career, is releasing new material titled Just Whitney

BY Alan Poole


WHITNEY HOUSTON'S niche in pop history has long since been secured.

She boasts record sales for a debut album (22 million) and film soundtrack (The Bodyguard's 38 million), she's the only artist to have logged seven consecutive US No 1s, and she's walked off with half-a-dozen Grammys.

In the past couple of years that phenomenal success seemed in grave danger of stalling as most of her press coverage has revolved around the state of her marriage, health and mental well-being.

But her new album Just Whitney signals a feisty return to form as she continues the process started on 1998's My Love Is Your Love, toning down the over-the-top ballads that became her trademark in favor of a sharper, sassier sound. It's a bit of a gamble, because she's delving into territory where there's a lot of younger, hungrier competition. But through all her troubles there's never been any doubt about the quality of her vocal cords, and that again shines through here.