Whitney Houston burst onto the music scene in 1985 with herself-titled LP which had four number one hit singles on it,including "The Greatest Love of All," "You Give Good Love" and"Saving All My Love for You," plus it won a Grammy Award forbest pop vocal performance by a female and two American MusicAwards, one for best rhythm and blues single and another for bestrhythm and blues video. She was also cited as best new artist ofthe year by Billboard and by Rolling Stone magazine. With all thishype one might expect the album to be an anticlimactic,lackluster aʃair, but the surprise is that Whitney Houston (Arista)is one of the warmest, most complex and altogether satisfyingrhythm and blues records of the decade and Whitney herself hasa voice that deɹes belief. From the elegant, beautiful photo of heron the cover of the album (in a gown by Giovanne De Maura) andits fairly sexy counterpart on the back (in a bathing suit byNorma Kamali) one knows that this isn't going to be a blandlyprofessional aʃair; the record is smooth but intense andWhitney's voice leaps across so many boundaries and is soversatile (though she's mainly a jazz singer) that it's hard to takein the album on a ɹrst listening. But you won't want to. You'llwant to savor it over many.It opens with "You Give Good Love" and "Thinking AboutYou," both produced and arranged by Kashif, and they emanatewarm, lush jazz arrangements but with a contemporarysynthesized beat and though they're both really good songs, thealbum doesn't get kicking until "Someone for Me" which wasproduced by Jermaine Jackson, where Whitney sings longinglyagainst a jazz-disco background and the diʃerence between herlonging and the sprightliness of the song is very moving. Theballad "Saving All My Love for You" is the sexiest, most romanticsong on the record. It also has a killer saxophone solo by TomScott and one can hear the inɻuences of sixties girl-group pop init (it was cowritten by Gerry Goɽn) but the sixties girl groupswere never this emotional or sexy (or as well produced) as thissong is. "Nobody Loves Me Like You Do" is a glorious duet withJermaine Jackson (who also produced it) and just one example ofhow sophisticated lyrically this album is. The last thing it suʃersfrom is a paucity of decent lyrics which is what usually happenswhen a singer doesn't write her own material and has to have herproducer choose it. But Whitney and company have picked wellhere.The dance single "How Will I Know" (my vote for best dancesong of the 1980s) is a joyous ode to a girl's nervousness aboutwhether another guy is interested in her. It's got a great keyboardriʃ and it's the only track on the album produced by wunderkindproducer Narada Michael Walden. My own personal favoriteballad (aside from "The Greatest Love of All"—her crowningachievement) is "All at Once" which is about how a youngwoman realizes all at once her lover is fading away from her andit's accompanied by a gorgeous string arrangement. Even thoughnothing on the album sounds like ɹller, the only track that mightcome close is "Take Good Care of My Heart," another duet withJermaine Jackson. The problem is that it strays from the album'sjazz roots and seems too inɻuenced by 1980s dance music.But Whitney's talent is restored with the overwhelming "TheGreatest Love of All," one of the best, most powerful songs everwritten about self-preservation and dignity. From the ɹrst line(Michael Masser and Linda Creed are credited as the writers) tothe last, it's a state-of-the-art ballad about believing in yourself.It's a powerful statement and one that Whitney sings with agrandeur that approaches the sublime. Its universal messagecrosses all boundaries and instills one with the hope that it's nottoo late for us to better ourselves, to act kinder. Since it'simpossible in the world we live in to empathize with others, wecan always empathize with ourselves. It's an important message,crucial really, and it's beautifully stated on this album.Her second eʃort, Whitney (Arista; 1987), had four number onesingles, "I Wanna Dance with Somebody," "So Emotional,""Didn't We Almost Have It All?" and "Where Do Broken HeartsGo?" and was mostly produced by Narada Michael Walden andthough it's not as serious an eʃort as Whitney Houston it's hardlya victim of Sophomore Slump. It starts oʃ with the bouncy,danceable "I Wanna Dance with Somebody (Who Loves Me)"which is in the same vein as the last album's irrepressible "HowWill I Know." This is followed by the sensuous "Just the LonelyTalking Again" and it reɻects the serious jazz inɻuence thatpermeated the ɹrst album and one can also sense a newfoundartistic maturity in Whitney's voice—she did all the vocalarrangements on this album—and this is all very evident on"Love Will Save the Day" which is the most ambitious songWhitney's yet performed. It was produced by Jellybean Benitezand it pulsates with an uptempo intensity and like most of thesongs on this album it reɻects a grownup's awareness of theworld we all live in. She sings and we believe it. This is quite achange from the softer, little-girl-lost image that was so appealingon the ɹrst album.She projects an even more adult image on the Michael Masserproduced "Didn't We Almost Have It All," a song about meetingup with a long-lost lover and letting him know your feelingsabout the past aʃair, and it's Whitney at her most poetic. And ason most of the ballads there's a gorgeous string arrangement. "SoEmotional" is in the same vein as "How Will I Know" and "IWanna Dance with Somebody" but it's even more rock-inɻuencedand, like all the songs on Whitney, played by a terriɹc backupstudio band with Narada on drum machine, Wolter Afanasieʃ onthe synthesizer and synth bass, Corrado Rustici on synth guitar,and someone listed as Bongo Bob on percussion programmingand drum sampling. "Where You Are" is the only song on thealbum produced by Kashif and it bears his indelible imprint ofprofessionalism—it has a smooth, gleaming sound and sheen to itwith a funky sax solo by Vincent Henry. It sounded like a hitsingle to me (but then all the songs on the album do) and Iwondered why it wasn't released as one."Love Is a Contact Sport" is the album's real surprise—a bigsounding, bold, sexy number that, in terms of production, is thealbum's centerpiece, and it has great lyrics along with a goodbeat. It's one of my favorites. On "You're Still My Man" you canhear how clearly Whitney's voice is like an instrument—aɻawless, warm machine that almost overpowers the sentiment ofher music, but the lyrics and the melodies are too distinctive, toostrong to let any singer, even one of Whitney's caliber,overshadow them. "For the Love of You" shows oʃ Narada'sbrilliant drum programming capabilities and its jazzy modern feelharks back not only to purveyors of modern jazz like MichaelJackson and Sade but also to other artists, like Miles Davis, PaulButterɹeld and Bobby McFerrin."Where Do Broken Hearts Go" is the album's most powerfulemotional statement of innocence lost and trying to regain thesafety of childhood. Her voice is as lovely and controlled as itever has been and it leads up to "I Know Him So Well," the mostmoving moment on the record because it's ɹrst and foremost aduet with her mother, Cissy. It's a ballad about ... who?—a lovershared? a long-lost father?—with a combination of longing,regret, determination and beauty that ends the album on agraceful, perfect note. We can expect new things from Whitney(she made a stunning gift to the 1988 Olympics with the ballad"One Moment in Time") but even if we didn't, she would remainthe most exciting and original black jazz voice of her generation.
