New Recordings: The Preacher's Wife

Date: December 19, 1996
By Chris Dafoe

From The Globe and Mail (Canada)
Submitted by: Larry A.


Since 1992, Whitney Houston has hitched her musical star to the movie world, forsaking studio albums and releasing a series of soundtracks that included hits such as the saccharine I Will Always Love You (from The Bodyguard )and the delightful Shoop (from Waiting to Exhale). She uses this latest vehicle to revisit her gospel roots (accompanied by the Georgia Mass Choir) and to take a few more swings at the pop charts. Her trip back to church is pleasant but underwhelming and is easily overshadowed by the performance of her mother, Cissy Houston, who really sets the pews rocking on The Lord is My Shepherd. On the pop side, the material ranges from sloppy sentimental ballads such as I Believe In You and Me, which bring out Houston's tendency to overdecorate a song, to sharp, tightly written pop numbers such as Babyface's My Heart is Calling or Annie Lennox's Step By Step, which keep her vocal excesses in check.