CD review: Whitney Houston

Published Jan 11, 2013

Share

I Will Always Love You: The Best Of Whitney Houston

Whitney Houston

****

Who’s dead when the music lives on?

This album serves to remind us why Houston was considered one of the best voices to grace the mic. Forget Aretha, forget Beyoncé, when it came to pure talent no one came close to Whitney. But as with most genius, there seemed to be some sort of self-destruct mechanism in place. You know the rest of the story.

Back to the CD, things start on a high with Love Will Save the Day, a classic Houston sound. You automatically feel like wearing your dancing shoes and doing your 1980s moves with the broom as your stage mic.

Other up-tempo songs include Step by Step, If I Told You and It’s Not Right But It’s Okay. Of course that is a party line-up right there.

Things mellow down and Houston shows why she was queen of the ballads as well. Remember when she did Exhale (Shoop Shoop) for the Waiting to Exhale movie? We quickly forgot about the flick, but we remember the song to this day. My Love is Your Love is also there to take you to a time when the singer was on top of her game. Her collaboration with CeCe Winans on Count on Me brings back good memories.

Since her last years were marred by a cracking voice thanks to substance abuse, it probably wasn’t a good idea to include Million Dollar Baby and I Look to You as they remind the fan of the final sad days of her career. However, the R Kelly touch on I Look To You will make you cry as it was obviously done posthumously. This is a must-have CD for any music lover. – Munyaradzi Vomo

Related Topics: