Record Rack;
Just Whitney and a whiff of desperation

Whitney Houston
"Just Whitney" (Arista)
* 1/2

Houston has been a tantalizing presence since arriving on the scene in the '80s with a voice equaled for sheer beauty and command in mainstream pop only by Barbra Streisand's.

Even if we winced at the overblown pop ballads, Houston injected almost every recording with a boldness that made such rivals as Celine Dion and Mariah Carey seem bloodless and one-dimensional.

Through it all, there was always the chance that Houston would step beyond the pop gloss and use her voice in warmer and more inviting ways -- which she did by employing contemporary R&B textures in her 1998 album "My Love Is Your Love."

"Just Whitney" (in stores Tuesday) doesn't follow up on that. Houston's voice is fine, but the album is a timid outing that fails to even generate the presence her earlier hits did. There's nothing with the sheer pop celebration of "I Wanna Dance With Somebody (Who Loves Me)," and this time Houston's heart doesn't seem to be in the overblown pop, including a version of "You Light Up My Life." Responding to tabloid rumors about problems in her personal life, Houston strikes back at outsiders ("Whatchulookinat?), defends her lifestyle ("Unashamed") and toasts her marriage (a duet with hubby Bobby Brown on "My Love").

Mostly, "Just Whitney" suffers from the sense of career desperation that surrounded Michael Jackson's recent CDs. She and four dozen writers and producers work so hard finding another hit, they lose track of the human qualities that made her music so formidable.

-- Robert Hilburn