MY LOVE IS YOUR LOVE: LIVE
BOSTON GLOBE REVIEW 8 JULY 1999

Houston makes it new

By Joan Anderman, Globe Correspondent, 07/08/99


When a pop singer reaches so-called diva status, as Whitney Houston has, one doesn't expect adventurousness so much as dependability. She does what she does so well, after all, who really thinks to ask for anything more than that pristine powerhouse of a voice and perfect licks every time?

Houston, however, has another trick up her familiar sequined sleeve. Last year, mid-career, she released ''My Love Is Your Love,'' an album as expansive as her five-octave range. Enlisting the support of younger producers, hipper songwriters, and contemporary peers from hip-hop and R&B, Houston put out a collection of modern, urban rhythm and blues. And for a near-capacity house at the Wang last night, she put on a fresh, vibrant show that relied little on oldies and boldly put the emphasis on new material.

On a stage set with massive metal discs and a nouveau-Norma Desmond, wood-and-steel staircase, Houston emerged in baggy black cargo pants, a slinky, fur-trimmed coat, and stiletto heels - the first of several cutting-edge costumes supplied by Dolce and Gabbana. (The subsequent skin-tight magenta leather gown and yellow fur stole was the standout.) Talk about mixed metaphors. But the costumes crystallized beautifully Houston's embrace of both a youthful urban aesthetic and classic sophistication. And she backed it up with three new tunes out of the gate. The show opener, ''Get It Back,'' was all groove: no bombast, no ample chorus, no cliched romantic lyric. There's nothing obvious about the song, and that's the critical shift Houston's made - turning toward the feel and away from the hook.

''Heartbreak Hotel,'' shot through with crackling white noise, and ''If I Told You So'' brimmed with vocal riffs that couldn't really be assigned to a genre. Houston's always been a technical wizard, but this new collection, which probes much more complicated lyrical territory than Houston has ever ventured, is thick with a whole new layer of emotional flesh. ''I Learned From the Best,'' a pointed, powerful ballad about betrayal, dripped with bitterness. Adulthood, and its attendant tumult, has added a fiery dimension to Houston's singing, which came over even more powerfully live than on record.

Houston referred to the concerts she canceled last weekend due to vocal strain, taking a swipe at her less-endowed peers by pointing out that ''I don't have a machine up here working for me. I sing.'' Catty, perhaps, but true. A jazzy, free-time reworking of 1985's ''Saving All My Love For You'' followed - brash as her introduction - with each note clear and pure, hard and sparkling, as a diamond. Houston also reinvented ''I Wanna Dance With Somebody (Who Loves Me),'' a bit of pop fluff, as a swirl of Latin rhythms.

Bottom line, though, is Houston can sing whatever she pleases and sell it. ''How Will I Know,'' the other chestnut she resurrected, is an inexcusably silly song. Still, Houston had everyone, including a frail, elderly gentleman in the next row, on their feet and moving to the sheer exuberance of her voice. And when she tackled the real stuff - a mini gospel set that included the plaintive ''I Love the Lord'' and ''I Go to the Rock,'' a joyful, revival-style foot-stomper - Houston proved herself a genuine musical titan, throwing down lick after impossible lick like so many fistfuls of feathers, all landing in perfect order.

Houston's group, which included oldest brother Gary on background vocals (and a solo version of Stevie Wonder's ''Higher Ground'' during one of his sister's costume changes) was wonderfully capable and predictably tempered. The night, taped by an MTV crew for broadcast on July 22, belonged to the diva.

Openers 112 played a serviceable but not by any stretch inspired set of smooth R&B.


This story ran on page E01 of the Boston Globe on 07/08/99.
© Copyright 1999 Globe Newspaper Company.