Whitney Houston - Whitney Houston

The Pop R&B singer Whitney made her debut in 1985 when she released a self-titled record. It is the album that gave her the chance to breakthrough as amongst collaborations with Jermaine Jackson and Teddy Pendergrass, you find that you have her offering hits such as “Greatest Love Of All”, “How Will I Know” and “Saving All My Love For You” that gave her the chance to display her strong, soulful vocals to the masses.

1. “You Give Good ...
...this is one that has Whitney blazing out a tune that tops just about any Pop ballad of its time as she puts on a great performance and works with the powerful material she has to come out with a song that doesn’t have any weaknesses to it whatsoever to get to what I consider to be the peaking point of the record.

**Five Stars**

10. “Hold Me”

The album is brought to a close with this one as she links up with ... more

The Pop R&B singer Whitney made her debut in 1985 when she released a self-titled record. It is the album that gave her the chance to breakthrough as amongst collaborations with Jermaine Jackson and Teddy Pendergrass, you find that you have her offering hits such as “Greatest Love Of All”, “How Will I Know” and “Saving All My Love For You” that gave her the chance to display her strong, soulful vocals to the masses.

1. “You Give Good Love”

The album begins well as you see that she breaks out with one of the singles from the album and one that sits well on the release as you see that she comes out with one that shows her strengths when it comes to the Soul end of the album and how what exactly she can get out of her voice. It is heavy stuff and although I can’t say it is amongst the best here, it is a good one to begin her debut with.

**Four Stars**

2. “Thinking About You”

You find that she doesn’t spend too long with the slow end of things as she immediately gets the chance to break out into some high-tempo Po R&B stuff to act as a massive contrast to what had just been brought. It is a nice one to give people a chance to see just how much variety she has the potential to bring on the album in spite of the fact we are just onto the second track of the thing.

**Four Stars**

3. “Someone For Me”

You see that we get the chance to stick to the same kind of material for another one as this one comes into effect, but I can’t say that this kind of Pop material from her did anything for me as it simply doesn’t appeal to my tastes and I believe that without really experiencing those times at all I can’t really get into material that seems to represent that sort of time (although I expect others to see more positives in it).

**Two Stars**

4. “Saving All My Love For You”

This track just kills things off and really shows her working up to her highest possible standard as she bring a song that has some of the best song writing and production to support an amazing vocal performance of a ballad that I can’t see anyone finding any reason to really complain about. Its quality hits you on the first hearing and it gives it the Pop appeal that I felt it deserved for such a strong tune.

**Five Stars**

5. “Nobody Loves Me Like You Do”

You see that she moves on into a tune that keeps things on the slower end of the record as she comes to perform in a duet with Jermaine Jackson. I can’t say that I was really into this one and especially when you have it placed next to such a banger of a jam that came just before it, it seems to lack so much. I can see where the appeal is, but it just didn’t do it for me at all and I felt that it just sounded rather generic.

**Two Stars**

6. “How Will I Know”

She suddenly moves things on as you here this one open up to some funky percussion that lets you know that you are in for some full-on eighties Pop material (and one that was later used, heavily, for a Dance track). I felt that it was a nice change to things and one that has her showing that she is able to work well with this end of things as well as the ballads for a very satisfying range of styles she has the chance to work from.

**Four Stars**

7. “All At Once”

Not giving the listener much chance to really get in the mood to jam, she moves right on back to the soulful side of the album, but I felt that in this case it was another of the more pleasant twists as she comes out with a joint that takes on many of the characteristics found on other tracks from the album, but they are manipulated in a way that I felt made her ensure that she brought nothing but what would take the listener in.

**Five Stars**

8. “Take Good Care Of My Heart”

Here she gets into a mid-tempo tune where she gets the chance to perform another duet piece and does so in a bit of a more exciting tune with a much livelier jam, but I can’t say that I really got all that much from it as it seemed to stay on the same sort of level throughout and it certainly couldn’t compete with others on the album that were done with a similar feel and so it sounded a bit average.

**Three Stars**

9. “Greatest Love Of All”

If you can’t say that this is of the same standard as “Saving All My Love For You” then it is because you will think it is better as this is one that has Whitney blazing out a tune that tops just about any Pop ballad of its time as she puts on a great performance and works with the powerful material she has to come out with a song that doesn’t have any weaknesses to it whatsoever to get to what I consider to be the peaking point of the record.

**Five Stars**

10. “Hold Me”

The album is brought to a close with this one as she links up with Teddy Pendergrass and with the Soul singer on her side it gives her the chance to appeal to this fan base (one that I felt had been neglected after having a brief glimpse at the start of the album). It wasn’t really done in a style that I could get down to, but I feel that it was another that many others are bound to really enjoy with another solid tune.

**Two Stars**

I believe that although this is seen to be one of the greatest Pop R&B albums ever, the time when it dropped mean that the sorts of things that you get from the party tunes are such a far distance from where R&B would be even five years later meant that it this kind of stuff phased out to the point that I couldn’t connect with it at all. I can see why people enjoy some parts of it and it is reasonably diverse, but it didn’t really say too much for me (other than the key singles that stand out).
 

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