Whitney Houston: The Preacher's Wife; A soul that soars

Date: November 29, 1996
By Robert Philpot, Writer

From Fort Worth Star-Telegram (Texas)
Submitted by: Larry A.


Whitney Houston, The Preacher's Wife
Arista Records
* * * 1/2 on a scale of 5

Wanna know the difference between a vocalist and a singer? Check out the way Whitney Houston handles I Believe in You and Me, the opening cut on the soundtrack to The Preacher's Wife, and the way she sings He's All Over Me, one of the album's gospel numbers.

On the first, vocalist Houston is coolly professional, delivering smooth vocals over production as slick as the streets after the recent ice storm. On the second, singer Houston sounds positively transported, as if the song had taken control of her, washing over her with waves of spiritual joy.

Cool professionalism has long been one of Houston's flaws: Sure, she has a great voice, but she seems more intent on showing what her larynx and vocal cords can do, only in rare instances (Saving All My Love for You, The Greatest Love of All before too much airplay killed it) showing what her heart and soul can emote.

The Preacher's Wife, which is roughly half-gospel and half-secular music, plays to both sides of Whitney. She comes off best on the gospel numbers, such as Joy (by Fort Worth's Kirk Franklin) and the aforementioned He's All Over Me, which teams her with gospel diva Shirley Caesar. On these cuts, Houston fronts the Georgia Mass Choir, and although the vocal arrangements get a little repetitive, the choir - and the spiritual nature of the material - brings out the best in Houston, who belts and shouts and testifies (and, unfortunately, can't resist the occasional showy trill or whoop). And Caesar really brings out the best in Houston, challenging her with powerhouse vocals that result in one of the best Houston cuts ever.

The secular stuff is more of a mixed bag. Blame that on a variety of producers and co-producers, a virtual guarantee of unevenness. R&B king Babyface gets good, if unspectacular, performances out of Houston on You Were Loved and My Heart is Calling, and Mervyn Warren, who co-produced most of the gospel stuff, coaxes a lovely, restrained vocal out of her for the lullaby Who Would Imagine a King.

Elsewhere, though, there is slickness and redundancy. Few producers are slicker than schlockmeister David Foster, who controls the "single version" of I Believe in You and Me; the repetition of that cut, and of Annie Lennox's Step by Step, seems more like filler than substance. And although it's nice of Houston to give some R&B cohorts (including husband Bobby Brown) a part in Somebody Bigger Than You and I, it can't hold a votive candle to the much stronger gospel cuts.

In the liner notes, Houston reminds us that her roots are in gospel music, and that that's where she feels most comfortable. Perhaps the next step for her is to take a chance and do a full gospel album. Because on the spiritual cuts here, she finally sounds like a singer with her soul on fire, rather than a vocalist with her talent set on cool.