Reviews of new soundtrack, rap, rock and Latin releases

Date: December 03, 1996
By Lynn Coddington

From The Orange County Register
Submitted by: Larry A.


ORIGINAL SOUNDTRACK "The Preacher's Wife" Arista

Well, at least it's not the same ol', same ol'.

With 14 of the 15 tracks on the soundtrack for "The Preacher's Wife" being sung by Whitney Houston, this is basically a new Houston album. But anyone expecting what Houston usually offers - a highly polished, expertly sung brand of R&B that's often as cold as a Canadian Christmas - is in for something of a shock.

Ironically, the structure of a movie plot line this time has given Houston a sense of freedom in which she seems reluctant to indulge on her non-soundtrack albums. Six of the tracks are gospel, sung with the assistance of Shirley Caesar and the Georgia Mass Choir, but it's Houston who carries songs such as "Hold On, Help Is on the Way" and "I Go to the Rock." Granted, she still comes across as being too slick at times but, more often than not, she succeeds.

Where Houston runs into trouble and becomes more anonymous is in contemporary R&B, such as the all-star collaboration with Faith Evans, Johnny Gill, Monica, Bobby Brown and Ralph Tresvant on "Somebody Bigger Than You and I" or a typical blast of Diane Warren bombast, "You Were Loved."

Still, she turns in a credible, danceable take on Annie Lennox's "Step by Step," and the Teddy Riley remix digs a deep new jack groove. And the Babyface song here, "My Heart Is Calling," has the producer's usual stamp: a seemingly simple, forgettable melody is turned into something more memorable.

The crafty single "I Believe in You and Me" is offered in two takes: the single version produced by David Foster and the less treacly original, co-produced by Houston with Mervyn Warren.

"The Preacher's Wife" should go some way toward dispelling the notion that Houston is just an R&B clinician.