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正由于这种极端的顽固和毫无想像力，使得专辑中的新元素听起来完全与HOUSTON的老歌没?br />裁戳窖！癐 wanna dance with somebody”，此专辑的首支主打曲，是由“How will I know”的相同团队（George Merrill&Shannon Rubicam）谱写，并由相同制作人（那个似乎总有能力，却总没什么惊喜的Narada Michael Walden）“充满爱意地制作和编曲”的（如参与人名单所说）。没有冒险，这些歌曲作者只是简单地把他们以前的金曲像做字谜游戏一样改头换面，而Walden还是用他一贯的傲慢风格加以粉饰。这种战略就像是好莱坞大片的重磅炸弹续集一样：这就是How will I know II。HOUSTON两年来的新作注定要快速上升，且“I wanna dance”击败了她以前的录音作品，以前所未有的速度在榜上攀升，在四周时间内就登入了Billboard的前十名，并在不久以后登顶。这说明至少在演艺界，雷同并不一定受人轻视。But rewarding the strategy means settling for more of the same, which is virtually all Whitney has to offer. Although mixmaster-producer Jellybean Benitez joins the ranks, the rest of the producers on Whitney are also contributors to the previous album: Kashif, Michael Masser and Walden, who checks in with seven of the eleven cuts. Masser reprises the show-tune schmaltz of "The Greatest Love of All" in his even cornier "Didn't We Almost Have It All." Kashif, reduced to one track, shrugs off the lovely but limp "Where You Are." Jellybean clicks neatly with "Love Will Save the Day," the only song to even remotely acknowledge the problems of the world at large and the most vivaciously percussive track on the record.要实施这种战略意味着保持更多的相似之处，这也是WHITNEY必须得付出的。虽然混音制作?br />薐ellybean Benitez加入了团队，此张专辑的剩余制作人都出自上张专辑：Kashif,Michael Masser和Walden,后者负责了11首歌中的7首。“The Greatest love of all”中的弥撒反复吟唱同样出现在了“Didn’t we almost have it all”中。Kashif,只负责了一首歌，漫不经心地做出了可爱却软弱的“Where you are”。Jellyben与之一致地奠出了“Love will save the day”，整张专辑里唯一地大谈世界问题，也是节奏最为活跃的歌曲。Walden covers all these bases, out-schlocking Masser with "I Know Him So Well" – a genuine if frankly derivative show tune (from Tim Rice's Chess) treated here with deadly reverence – and out-hopping Kashif (but not Jellybean) with "Love Is a Contact Sport," "So Emotional" and "I Wanna Dance." In the main, Walden's work is neo-conservative pop, perfect fodder for adult contemporary radio, where contemporary is an assurance that nothing disturbingly novel will be heard. Like so much of Richard Perry's material for the Pointer Sisters, Walden's output has a hip veneer and a solidly conventional core. Working comfortably within Whitney's limited parameters, he has no trouble steering clear of innovation and just honing his hooks. On two cuts – Sam Dees's sparkling, quiet-stormy ballad "Just the Lonely Talking Again" and a right-on-target Isley Brothers cover, "For the Love of You" – Walden's delicate polish is quite irresistible. But even in his most obvious and manipulative productions, the hooks dig in before long. Like Houston's debut, this is an album full of songs you detest one day and find yourself singing along with the next.
2005年05月01日 02点05分
