Word: songe
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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Gospel has roots in the blues, and Houston brings the music back to its source. Her opening song, God Don't Ever Change, shivers and stomps along like a Robert Johnson classic. The twanging guitar, the call-and-response between Houston and her background chorus, all help create an informal, sitting-in- a-sweaty-Southern-church-waving-a-hand-fan musical atmosphere. In fact, all the songs on the album, from the proud, soaring Too Close to the confessional Face to Face, have the earthy intimacy of top-notch blues. Along the way, Houston also turns in a patient, slow...
...album's high point, however, draws from pure pop: a gospel rendition of Marvin Gaye's love song How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved by You). "'Cause you were better to me/ Than I was to myself/ For me there is you/ There ain't nobody else," Houston sings, as the chorus shadows her words with "I want to stop/ And thank you Jesus." On the song Houston's tart, high voice is strong and slightly rough, and the accompaniment is a warm wave of piano, organ and bass guitar. It's Motown with angels' wings, and gospel...
...with Stupid (Geffen), is rife with meaning; she's probably fingering her old record label, Imago, whose financial instability delayed this record for two years. "You pay for the hands they're shaking/ As they struggle with the undertaking/ of simple thought," she cracks on the title song. Lyrically, her acid tongue remains; musically, I'm with Stupid rates as one of the catchiest pop albums of the year, brimming with poised three-minute mini-masterpieces. Mann has the same skill that great tunesmiths like McCartney and Neil Young have: the knack for writing simple, beautiful, instantly engaging songs...
...many units as the typical Whitney CD -- its unabashed religiosity indicates that Houston has her sights set on a higher, very personal audience of One. "Gospel has roots in the blues, and Houston brings the music back to its source," says TIME's Christopher John Farley. "All the songs on the album, from the proud, soaring 'Too Close' to the confessional 'Face to Face,' have the earthy intimacy of top-notch blues. Along the way, Houston also turns in a patient, slow-building, ultimately satisfying rendition of 'Amazing Grace' -- an impressive feat, since the song has been covered so exhaustively...
Oops! After the Alanis Morissette song You Oughta Know won a Grammy, the Mississippi house of representatives passed a resolution honoring the native son who wrote it, Glen Ballard. Then lawmakers read the lyrics. Shortly after they came across the F word, they rescinded the honor...