The Preacher's Wife Soundtrack Reviews

11/26/96 - 12:02 AM ET - 

GOSPEL ALBUM REVIEW

'Preacher's Wife' steeped in the spirit

Whitney Houston's albums have often hinted at her gospel roots, but on the soundtrack for The Preacher's Wife (***1/2 out of four) she literally takes you to church.

Six of the album's songs were recorded with the Georgia Mass Choir at Greater Rising Star Church in Atlanta, and she cuts loose with those great pipes of hers with a depth of feeling not always heard on her pop recordings.

Her voice soars on such songs as Hold On, Help Is on the Way; I Go to the Rock; and the Kirk Franklin-penned Joy. She is pushed to even greater heights by gospel icon Shirley Caesar on He's All Over Me. In the hands of Houston and the choir, the Christmas standard Joy to the World becomes a rousing hymn.

Houston sits out only one of the album's 15 tracks - a powerful reading of The Lord Is My Shepherd by mom Cissy Houston with the Hezekiah Walker Choir.

The gospel songs are this album's strength, but it remains to be seen whether any of them will become mainstream hits. Still, it wouldn't be a Whitney Houston record without some tunes certain to get heavy radio airplay. Even those (including the first single, I Believe in You and Me; Annie Lennox's Step by Step; the Babyface-produced My Heart Is Calling; and the sweet Who Would Imagine a King) have a spiritual feel. They help maintain a thematic cohesiveness that most soundtracks lack these days.

The popish Somebody Bigger Than You and I, on which Houston is joined by husband Bobby Brown, his New Edition pals Ralph Tresvant and Johnny Gill, and Monica and Faith Evans, isn't bad, but it's not quite up to the rest of the album.

By Steve Jones, USA TODAY