WHITNEY HOUSTON
My Love Is Your Love
(Arista)

After preoccupying herself with pumping out mega-ballads for soundtracks over the last eight years, pop superstar Whitney Houston finally has an new album of original material.
 
 And given that she's sold 100 million copies over the last decade, the tacky promotional tag on the record's cellophane wrapping -- "Whitney -- Like you've never heard her before!" -- is downright laughable.
 
 Yes, she has diversified and updated her sound somewhat on her fourth studio release but it's not like we're talking about some singer being sold via one of those horrible late night TV mail order ads.
 
 And really, you can take the girl out of the diva but you can't the diva out of the girl.
 
 Especially when she's singing with another diva, in the form of Mariah Carey, on their much-publicized duet, When You Believe, from the upcoming animated film, The Prince Of Egypt. (The song is also included on Carey's just released new album, #1's, plus the movie's soundtrack.)
 
 The song, co-written and produced by r & b guru Babyface, is overblown schmaltz -- complete with a backup choir -- that's reminiscent of this year's other much-hyped diva duet, Celine Dion and Barbra Streisand's Tell Him.
 
 Babyface also loses points for producing two other run-of-the-mill ballads Until You Come Back and You'll Never Stand Alone to Houston's repertoire.
 
 Otherwise, Houston is all over the musical map here, working with everyone from hip-hoppers Wyclef Jean and Missy "Misdemeanor" Elliott to up-and-coming r & b producer Rodney Jerkins (Brandy and Monica's The Boy Is Mine).
 
 Not surprisingly, Houston's work with those three artists is among the best material on the album.
 
 Houston gets both streetwise and sexy, respectively, with Elliott on the funky In My Business and the ballad Oh Yes, both of which deal with Houston's marriage to Bobby Brown.
 
 Jean's reggae-inflected title track is another record standout as are the more traditional Diane Warren-penned tunes, I Learned From The Best, produced by Canadian David Foster, and I Bow Out, produced by Babyface and Jerkins.
 
 Also good are the urban-flavoured Jerkins songs It's Not Right But It's Okay and Get It Back, not to mention the uncredited last track, a Lauryn Hill-produced, gender-switching cover of Stevie Wonder's I Was Made To Love Her.