Pop: This Week's Album Releases

Date: November 13, 1998
By Andy Gill

From The Independent (London)
Submitted by: Larry A.


WHITNEY HOUSTON
MY LOVE IS YOUR LOVE
ARISTA

HER FIRST non-soundtrack work in eight years, My Love Is Your Love, finds Whitney Houston trying to re-position herself in a more youthful context. The results are certainly more intriguing than the usual Whitney- fare, though, as the album progresses, her confidence appears to desert her, and she slips back into her comfortable old routine.

For about half the album, though, things are quite exciting, especially when hot young producer, Rodney Jerkins (responsible for Brandy & Monica's recent US mega-hit, "The Boy Is Mine"), is at the helm. His "It's Not Right But It's Okay" opens proceedings with a light, frisky kalimba-funk groove with Whitney, in assertive mode, seeing off a cheating partner; angry and urgent, even a little abrupt, it's begging to be remixed every which way.

Further evidence of Jerkins' sophisticated rhythmic sense comes with the album's stand-out track, "If I Told You That", an infectious funk piece built around a jazzy, contrapuntal piano figure that lends a dizzy whirl to the song's swagger and sway. In a year's time, you'll be sick to death of it.

The same goes for Wyclef Jean's "My Love Is Your Love", an anthemic number built with a blatancy even Noel Gallagher would admire from the recycled melodies of "Don't Think Twice, It's Alright" and "No Woman, No Cry". The song's problem is its obviousness, though it's left in the shade in that respect by the duet with Mariah Carey, "When You Believe", whose entire raison d'etre appears to be to scotch rumours about a Whitney/Mariah feud. As slushy and overdone as you'd imagine, it might have been more convincingly chummy had the two women actually shared the same studio at the same time.

Elsewhere, a couple of Missy "Misdemeanor" Elliott collaborations add a little feistiness, but then Whitney slinks back to her old ways. Only Lauryn Hill's revamped "I Was Made To Love Her" goes against the flow, but even that seems drained of the Stevie Wonder original's exhilaration. Overall, only half a revelation.