Soulster,
I'll have to revisit that one to see. I hate to say it but that, ''I Wanna Dance With Somebody" & I Will Always Love You'' were 3 songs of hers that I've never liked. They were way too pop for my audience & myself as well.
Great vocal performances indeed. But I never warmed up to any of them.
I can't stand "I'll Always Love You", either, but I grew up with a lot of top 40 pop music from the 60s and 70s [[read: White), so I have no problem with her pop material.
I liked a lot of her "pop" classics for what they were, nothing great but fun to listen to. Her ballads stood in a class all of their own. I like her rendition of "I Will Always Love You" but it is lyrically one of the most insipid and poorly written tunes ever. She squeezed all of the juice out of that lemon; I can understand the aclaim and appreciate the performance but don't like the song.
Prior to her death, "I will always love you" was always listed as one of the most over played, hated songs ever.
One of my favorite songs from her first album was "Thinking about you". However, there were a couple of songs- that one included, that really sounded like filler.
Ahh, this is the old SDF I remember. Spirited discussion about the MUSIC. Thinking About You, funky?
Man, that a song's a Sir Nose classic. A picture of that record is imbedded with the definition of FakinTheFunk. To me, about as close as Whitney came to being born again Funky was Queen of The Night and MAYBE I'm Your Baby Tonight [[especially live versions).
I have to agree with my fellow Funkateers here, Whitney's music was, from the get go, created and marketed to a Pop audience. And there's nothing wrong with that. The fact the she had hellacious vocal chops and some down home gospel influences just sweetened the deal.
I had no problems with it either. However, that crowd of haters at the Soul Train Awards did when they booed her. I mean, WTF? I think that made her examine herself and want to appease them with the perception of her music and lifestyle. It was a long slow curve downhill after that point.
I'll second that, Chidrummer.
Agree to disagree, Soul.
"Thinking About You" was not a funk song and barely funky. It was the same as a million other B sides on a million other '80s albums But, that's just another opinion.
Now fellas, come ON now. Listen to Thinking About You and compare it to this!:
You tell me, Who's Funky?
I wasn't pushing it, Ralph. I was just making my case. The problem with the written word is that it doesn't convey facial or body expression, or demeanor.
On the other hand, I have a vision of timmyfunk is getting steamed and not being able to accept a difference of opinion.
I've never seen you as mad ever..........LOL; maybe we agree too often.
This thread has been hijacked
Last edited by abfan; 03-01-2012 at 11:24 PM.
I ain't been in here in so long but "Thinking About You" was the closest Whitney came to making anything "funky". But yeah it's just an '80s dance/R&B track to me. A bit lightweight at that since Whitney was never that big on dance records. Anyway, I hope the family and such finally give it a rest but I see they're still trying to milk the rest of her for what it's worth not unlike Michael. Sad. RIP.
Whitney not big on dance records ? she demanded dance remixes on the double greatest hits..Whitney loved to go clubbing and she loved the remixes of "Its Not Right" [[she sang the remix at Gay pride in NY)..last year she was executive producer on "The Essential" cd and again she made one of the discs all remixes..after "Exhale" soundtrack she had her eye on the dancefloor market.."its Not Right"..and "Try It On My Own" became club anthems...she may have fallen off the pop charts in the last few years but in clubland the thunderpuss and Hex Hector remixes were always being played..
Now that was a good memory, two of my favorite ladies. They can say whatever they want about Whitney, but I admired how she always had her mother, the woman that taught her by her side on those big nights. Her Dad must have been very proud as well. She always thanks God first anytime I have seen her winning an award and she won a TON of them!
I never dug "Queen Of The Night" its got that En Vogue "Free Your Mind" or Janets "Black Cat" vibe just too rock for me..someone mentioned the acapella version of "Love Will Save The Day" thats really hard to get in my corner of the world..it was never released in New Zealand as a single I bid on a cd single on Ebay of it a couple of years ago but the bids just got too high for me an Iam a Whitney addict...
Clive marketed dance singles from the word go..there was never two ballads released in a row..it was always one ballad -one dance song- one ballad the only exception I can recall was the last two singles from "Im your baby tonight" and that may have just been an international territory thing....as for Jody Watley she sounded waaay more mechanical on all her singles than Ms Houston..Jody had very limited top range some producers put it to good use on say the chorus of "Night To Remember" but Im gonna be a cat on a hot tin roof here and say even Janet had more range than Jody..less natural volume to Janets pipes but theres better singing on "Control" and "Rythmn Nation' than Jodys first two solo Lps..
Jody Watley sounded anything other than mechanical on her singles. Her singles, particularly the 12 remixes, were 50 times more funkier than anything Whitney did. Jody, Janet, and Teena's jams were tailor made for the dancefloor and the remixes just sent thangs over the top. Looking For A New Love, Real Love, What Have You Done For Me Lately, Pleasure Principle, Square Biz, I Need Your Lovin', take your pick. And you really don't need great vocal range to have a great dance remix. While Whitney may have received club airplay, the others ruled the clubs with an iron hand.
I'd rather listen to Teena Marie or Janet Jackson's 80s stuff any day!
I like a lot of old Teena Marie songs but Jam and Lewis had Janet in the center of my listening world in the late '80s. IMO, she can't sing worth a dime [[more like she whispers and they EQ and amp her volume), but "When I Think of You" and "Love Will Never Do Without You" were the perfect example of what great producers can do with the right voice. Both of those songs sound great at regular volume but 10x better when turned up really loud.
For her first album, Arista primarily released ballads as Whitney Houston singles. You Give Good Love followed by Saving All My Love for You. Then Greatest Love of All followed by All at Once. For the Whitney album, dance singles alternated with ballads. And for Bodyguard, I believe Run to You followed I Have Nothing as a single. And Whitney didn't record any dance songs for the Waiting to Exhale soundtrack. If memory serves me correctly, Why Does it Hurt So Bad followed Exhale as a single.
Clive put out "Hold Me"..then "thinking about you" [[may have only been a "12)...then "You Give Good Love"..then "Saving All My Love.." [[yup 2 ballads in a row there)//then "How Will I Know" finishing with "Greatest "....as for "Why Does It Hurt So Bad"..that had limited international single terriotry release...I cant remember if "Run" and "Nothing" were released side by side but they must have been because Im sure "Queen Of The Night" was the final release off the soundtrack..but my point still stands she was always marketed to the dance market..and by "My Love Is Your Love" cd theres more dance single releases than ballads...
Janets voice is low in natural volume but she can sing- the last 60 secounds or so of "Pleasure Principle" or "Rythmn Nation" have way more range than Jody can pull out on things like "Still a Thrill " or "Dont You Want Me"..Jody can sing but she has limited range I liked the way she held the acapella opening note on "Some Kind Of Lover " "12..but that dont hold a candle to janets singing on the last 2 mins of "Where Are You Now "...
I think Janet Jackson sings very well. She just has a soft voice, but it is very soulful at times. Call me crazy. She really shows her range on "He doesn't know that I'm alive".
ha ha skooldem..not many folks remember "He Dosent Know" she sang real high in that..
Bookmarks