MY LOVE IS YOUR LOVE: LIVE
NEW YORK POST REVIEW 14 JULY 1999

WHITNEY MINUS DIVA = DIVINE
By DAN AQUILANTE

OVER the last nine years, Whitney Houston has spent more time in front of movie cameras than microphones, but the break has paid off.

Wednesday at the Theater at Madison Square Garden, the first night of a two-show engagement that concluded yesterday, Houston gave a career-defining concert.

The baby fat was gone, the lazy, sappy ballads that spell diva were missing, and Houston came across as a singer's singer. In the intimacy of the theater, the aloofness that has marred Houston's past performances was also gone.

It was all replaced with a Whitney who seemed tough both spiritually and emotionally. Here was a sensitive performer able to project poise and confidence while remaining in total vocal control.

The two-hour concert was a steady climb to higher ground that culminated with a spine-chilling, goosebump-raising cover of Dolly Parton's "I Will Always Love You." It was a straight-from-the-heart rendition that expressed unconditional love and devotion - without indulging in over-orchestration.

The band was small by comparison to other diva-powered outfits. But because they were small they were also very tight and responsive to Houston as she warbled through her five-octave range.

The show didn't start with the same power and grace with which it concluded. Houston opened with a trio of songs from her latest album "My Love Is Your Love," and she seemed to struggle to find her groove. But once she got there, she never left.

There was major audience participation on the mid-show version of "Exhale (Shoop Shoop)" - from the guy in the next row singing along to the likes of Luther Vandross and Brandy, who were pulled onstage from their seats and joined in.

Singer Bobby Brown, Houston's husband, also made an onstage appearance - for some hugging and kissing with the missus - after she sang her breakthrough hit, "How Will I Know."

But Brown isn't the only love in Houston's life. She has a devotion to Jesus that she expressed in a pair of gospel tunes, which were taunt, soulful and passionate.

The better of the two was "I Go to the Rock," in which Houston ripped the roof off. She rendered it with veins in her neck bulging, her mug contorted and her knees bent in weakness.

Everyone there who witnessed this terrific gospel performance(snatched from "The Preacher's Wife") became a believer.