CD Review;
Comeback Bid? Houston, We Still Have A Problem

By Joan Anderman, GLOBE STAFF


Whitney Houston is one plucky gal.

Her ailing 82-year-old father has filed a $100 million breach-of-contract lawsuit against her, husband Bobby Brown can't stop getting arrested, her own erratic behavior is the stuff of tabloid dreams, and the onetime pop queen's selling power has diminished to the point that she has to discuss drug and alcohol problems with Diane Sawyer in order to promote her new record.

Nothing a relaxing manicure and pedicure can't solve, according to "One of Those Days," the breezy lead track, first single, and disturbingly trite opening statement on "Just Whitney," her new CD, in stores today. Sadder still, it's one of the standout songs. Houston's comeback bid - the 39-year-old singer's first studio album in four years and her maiden project under her new $100 million deal with Arista - is as unlikely to get her career back on track as a day at the spa is to solve her family problems. And it's a shame, because Houston's singing voice is one of the commanding forces in pop and R&B.

There are moments of dazzling technique and genuine emotional bite on the disc. "Things You Say," a downbeat ballad cowritten and produced by Missy Elliott, is warm and unfettered, and by comparison it's a virtual oasis of soul surrounded by "Tell Me No," a lite anthem to personal empowerment, and "My Love," a forced and unconvincing toast to her marriage, sung with her husband.

The air of desperation is strong. When it requires three dozen writers and producers to make an album that clocks in at a skimpy 39 minutes, one can hardly expect clarity, let alone inspiration. Through this battalion of songwriters who presumably channel her perspective, Houston defends her lifestyle ("Unashamed"), stands by her bad boy ("Love That Man"), and strikes back at her detractors in the media on "Whatchulookinat," a paranoid, Brown-produced single that has already tanked - along with "One of Those Days" - on the radio.

(Memo to Houston: We're looking at you because you keep playing an imaginary piano in public and your absences from scheduled appearances have been so egregious that your record company was forced to issue a formal denial of your rumored death. Power ballads, a territory Houston once dominated with the sort of bold, celebratory delivery that put even her rival divas to shame, are practically bloodless here. With pro songwriters such as Babyface, Kevin "She'kspere" Briggs, and Carole Bayer Sager on board, it remains a mystery why Houston would choose to remake the Debby Boone hit "You Light up My Life" as a stiff, string-laden testimonial.

Like a nouveau mansion made of the best materials money can buy but utterly lacking in character, "Just Whitney" is a shiny, heartless undertaking. But who can really blame her? Houston, it seems, has more pressing concerns to attend to than finding her muse.