'Bodyguard' music not safe from schlock

Date: December 10, 1992
By Mikel Toombs

From The San Diego Union-Tribune
Submitted by: Larry A.


Much as in the movie itself, the singers who perform on the "The Bodyguard" soundtrack are in need of protection -- from schlocky production in general and lax saxophone playing in particular.

No one is safe, not even star Whitney Houston, who is victimized both by her previous success and by producers David Foster and Narada Michael Walden. Houston, who sings on half of the album's 12 selections, does some of her best warbling on the chart-topping "I Will Always Love You."

Its Dolly Parton-penned lyrics call for simple sincerity, and Houston, for once, delivers.

But then the arrangement needlessly swells up, in the familiar pompous manner of her overwrought version of "The Greatest Love of All." Worse, on "I'm Every Woman," Houston's nicely jazzy vocal (Chaka Khan is fully credited for inspiration in the liner notes) collapses under the heavy hand of Walden and his neo-disco production. That's nothing compared to the plight of Aaron Neville.

On "Even If My Heart Would Break," the best song here, Neville sings as sweet as (Van Morrison's) "Tupelo Honey," only to find his tasteful rendition soured by Kenny G.'s saccharine saxophone solo.

Neville's vocal magic aside, the G man gets top billing here, if only because this heartbreaker also appears on his insipid new album, "Breathless." Elsewhere, Curtis Stigers contributes more hack sax work, Lisa Stansfield is disappointingly subdued, and soundtrack staple Joe Cocker makes his obligatory appearance. Various artists, "The Bodyguard -- Original Soundtrack Album" (Arista) **