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Sensational word-of-mouth has been going around about Whitney
Houston, the 18-year-old daughter of pop-r&b-gospel singer
Cissy Houston, and when she took the spotlight in the middle
of her mother's set at the Horn of Plenty, she did not
disappoint. Mandarin-eyed and coffee-with-cream-colored, a
chic-looking young Billie Holiday fit to be photographed by
Carl Van Vechten, Whitney took two ordinary pop ballads --
"You Are So Beautiful" and "All the Time"
-- and delivered them simply and directly. She sang in long,
unfussy lines, building slowly and holding off forever a
gorgeous vibrato she deployed very sparingly and only after
that throwing in a few blocky gospel phrases almost as a
surprise. She has a big voice, the kind that makes you laugh
and weep at the same time because it expresses so much more
than any particular song. But she didn't wring the tunes dry
or scrape them clean or anything like that -- no violence, no
overkill. The widest open note was as controlled and clear as
the hum she produced by holding the word "time" with
her lips closed; every note there was wanted. These are the
best habits for a young singer to have. I hope she stays away
from the flashy wailing and raw hollers audiences adore.
Singing
obbligato on "All the Time," Cissy Houston could not
conceal with mother's pride her consternation at not measuring
up. She had apologized upfront for having a cold, and it did
fray her voice into second-(or third-)rate Gladys Knight
bluster. I had hoped for a trace of the clarity and power I
remember from the album she did with Herbie Mann (Surprises),
but the set showed the same wayward focus and fondness for pop
schlock that plague most of her records. Although I suppose if
you ever wanted to hear "Tomorrow" (from Annie)
again, you could worse than hear Cissy and her backup trio
take it to church.
Village Voice,
July 1982
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