Ex Post Facto: Albums That Your Parents Listened to After Coitus
By Ji H. Chong
A&F Editor

Whitney Houston
Whitney Houston
Arista Records
1985

Back in the early 80s, Whitney Houston was recording experimental jazz-funk with avant-garde artists and singing in New York nightclubs, like so many other hopefuls past, present, and future. But unlike the vast majority of budding performers who are eventually forced to admit the dream is over, Houston was discovered by Arista president Clive Davis in one such club in 1983, and two years later Whitney Houston was released. After 13 million-plus copies, it became the best-selling debut ever from a female artist, transforming Houston into a bona fide superstar.

Listening to Whitney Houston in 2003 transports the college-age listener back to a more hopeful and innocent time when both Houston and said listener had their whole lives ahead of them. In the climactic moments of this album, when Houston's powerful voice soars through all the notes, the modern era of the Diva from the 1980s and 90s is temporarily brought back to life.

In the era of the diva, the emphasis in music was placed on the singing, instead of overt sexuality, stage props and gimmicks, and complicated dance choreography. And on a disc that includes so many producers, songwriters and other supporting cast that it plays more like a mix CD than an album, only uber-diva Houston's voice provides the consistency to keep the listening experience enjoyable through a range of up-tempo dance numbers and soulful ballads.

The four songs produced by Michael Masser, who also had a hand in writing each of them, are by far the highest-quality tracks. The Grammy-winning "Saving All My Love for You" and karaoke favorite "Greatest Love of All" are worth the purchase by themselves. When Houston sings the phrase in the chorus, "The greatest love of all," for the final time and holds the last syllable for dramatic effect, one can easily picture thousands of future American Idol contestants back in the 1980s, singing along while clutching a marker as make-believe mic.

The album stumbles slightly on the tracks where the monster that is 80s synthesized music rears its ugly head. On a few of the up-tempo tracks, the infamously distinctive sound of 80s synthesizer distracts the listener's attention from Houston's voice. It's no surprise that the primary culprit behind this musical crime, producer Jermaine Jackson, disappeared in the musical dark ages of the 80's along with everyone else who was unable to grow out of that particular stage of pop music.

But everywhere else on the album, Houston's undeniable starpower shines through in the crystal-clear delivery of lyric after lyric telling of either love found or lost.