Whitney Houston
The Preacher's Wife (Arista) * * *
The daughter of gospel great Cissy Houston sounds right at home in church on the soundtrack from her new movie, "The Preacher's Wife," which prompts the question: What took so long? On a decade's worth of multi-platinum pop albums, Whitney Houston has come across as a stupendous vocal acrobat who never truly inhabits her neatly coiffed songs, mainly because her staggering voice is frequently swathed in instrumental mush. But backed by the Georgia Mass Choir, Houston sounds liberated, and the music soars to goose bump-inducing heights. Too bad she hedged her bets by blending into the mix a few pop tracks typical of her earlier work, including yet another melodramatic Diane Warren ballad and "Somebody Bigger Than You and I" with husband Bobby Brown.
