DIVA LA DIFFERENCE

On new soundtrack albums from Madonna, Barbra, and Whitney, the reigning queens of pop show off their maturity, vanity, and spirituality, respectively.

By Chris Willman

With new soundtracks just out from Barbra and Whitney, too, it must be die-and-go-to-heaven month for drag queens. But no queen in recent memory carries the iconic pull of the theater's Eva Peron. Is Madonna up to the task? You have no idea. The newly pumped-up thrush sings the hell out of the material and, just as significantly, redefines it in ways that might make it her most "personal" album, if only for the telling adjustments she's made to an extremely familiar text.

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Not every diva gets stuck permanently peering into Narcissus' pond. With THE PREACHER'S WIFE (Arista), Whitney Houston had an excuse to make the gospel album she's forever talked about--give or take a secular ballad or four. The result will instantly overtake Aretha Franklin's 1972 Amazing Grace as the biggest album of spirituals ever: The Lord is her Bodyguard; sales shall not want.

Best among the non-gospel fare, Babyface's dance-floor ballad "My Heart Is Calling" explores Houston's sexy lower range against his characteristic bed of lush but near-subliminal b.g. vocals. "Step by Step," a house throbber penned by Annie Lennox, represents an admirable departure but gets tripped up by a pallid Inspirations R Us lyric and perhaps too much of its author's stamp.

When Houston sings "I Go to the Rock," though, the swing starts in earnest, with sacred assists from Mervyn Warren, the Georgia Mass Choir, and a modest but funk-filled band; plus, guests Shirley Caesar and mama Cissy briefly provide earthier contrasts to Whitney's coloratura. It's doubly nice that a superdiva with bravura enough to have sold as noxious a lyric as "The Greatest Love of All" believes there's a higher love than self after all.

Evita: A-
The Mirror Has Two Faces: C-
The Preacher's Wife: A-