Whitney Houston - My Love Is Your Love - 1998

Whitney Houston is, without any doubt, one of the biggest stars in the showbusiness ever.

Recently, we heard a lot about her drug addiction problems, and her unfortunate marriage with Bobby Brown. Before it all hapenned in her life, she was critically acclaimed singer - her biggest atribute was her angelic and powerful voice. The first album that I decided to review is her 1998 release - 'My Love Is Your Love'. In  my opinion it's one of her greatest releases in her career, and the last one (till today) which is really worth-listening-to.

 my rating: 4.5/5

 Whitney wanted to release her first 'The Greatest Hits' compilation back in 1998, but the material that she prepared was enough to release it as an independent album.'My Love Is Your Love' was recorded only in a week, but the results of this short recording process are just wonderful.

The album containts 13 songs (their overall lenght is more than 60 minutes!)  recorded in the most fashionable style back then. A lot of teen singers were recording similar albums, but most of them are not worthy to spent your time on. This one is completely different.

The first song on the release is her ultimate hit 'It's Not Right, But It's Okay' - actually I think that it's one of the weakest positions on the album. I don't know why. The unsetlled-rhythm of the verses  is not fitting my taste at all. Next songs are much better - 'Heartbreak Hotel' - a collaboration with Faith Evans and Kelly Price and the title track "My Love Is Your Love" are a perfect examples of how the R'nB looked like  back then. Both vocally and musically the songs are perfectly made, and their light  and friendly 'flow' always takes me back to the late 90's. The same thing is with the songs: "If I Told You That" which amazingly captures Houston's voice (of course not in a way that "Greatest Love Of All" or "I Will Always Love You" did, but it's very good too), 'I Was Made To Love Him' - a cover of Stevie Wonders song, and with her mega hit "I Learned From The Best". Also, Whitney's collaborations with Missy Elliot are worth our attention - almost 7-minute song "Oh Yes" and "In My Business". Missy is extremely good as a producer and a text writer. Another good points of the album are - without any doubt - the ballads. Whitney  Houston was always unbeatable in them: IMO too-cheesy "When You Believe" with Mariah Carey (it's quite funny that the song made the fans of both stars even more hating themselves), "Until You Come Back" and my favourite one - "You'll Never Stand Alone".

I have to say, that it's really hard for me to tell you something about the songs "I Bow Out" and "Get It Back". I never liked them too much. Esspecialy, when I'm listening to "I Bow Out" I feel that it's just a  typical 'filler' in there. All in all - the album is wonderfully produced. Whitney Houston's voice is very clear and powerful here, and the songs stands the test of time quite good.

It's quite sad that we can't expect another album like that... from Miss Houston of course!

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