"Whitney, like you've never heard her before!" declares the promotional sticker on the front of this CD, and for once, the record company hyperbole is not far from the truth. Excluding three soundtrack albums, "Your Love Is My Love" represents Whitney's first album proper since 1990's "I'm Your Baby Tonight." Here, the 35 year-old Newark-born chanteuse renowned for big sloppy ballads and twee, poppy dancefloor anthems, has somewhat courageously abandoned the well-worn style that made her the undisputed queen of MOR soul and opted to team up with some of the hottest properties in contemporary r'n'b. No longer do we find Michael Masser and Carole Bayer-Sager among the production credits. Instead we find names that read like a Who's Who of urban soul: Rodney "Darkchild" Jerkins, Soulshock & Karlin, Wyclef Jean and the omnipresent Missy Elliott.

But as interesting as this album is, it's not the revelation that Arista head-honcho Clive Davis promised. It might represent a stylistic departure for Houston but she's adopted the predictable template that everyone else is using in r'n'b.

However, it's good to hear Houston strut her stuff in another musical environment and show us that she can mix it up with the Brandys and Monicas of this world. Much attention will be lavished on Houston's collaboration with Darkchild. However, three of the four cuts he delivers sound like deadringers for "The Boy Is Mine," from the heavily sequenced arrangement and chord changes right down to the vocal phrasing. More impressive is the closing, "hidden" track, a funky re-working of Stevie's old chestnut "I Was Made To Love Him," masterminded by Lauryn Hill.

On "Heartbreak Hotel," Whitney impressively slugs it out with hiphop soul divas Faith Evans and Kelly Price. Wyclef Jean wrote and produced the anthemic, gospel-flavoured title track while Mariah Carey joins for a duet on the sickly "When You Believe" taken from a cartoon soundtrack (and destined to be the first single). The second half of the album finds Babyface in control of things, producing some slick mid-tempo songs like "Until You Come Back" while veteran hitman David Foster is on hand to give a schmaltzy gloss to Diane Warren's syrupy "I Learned From The Best."

The youthful character of "My Love Is Your Love" will probably alienate some of Houston's traditional fans but overall, it represents a smart career move. The r'n'b cuts will undoubtedly find her a new, younger audience while the ballad material should satisfy some of the songstress's older admirers.

(Rating: 7+)