Whitney Houston My Love Is Your Love CD

Personnel includes: Whitney Houston, Mariah Carey, Faith Evans, Kelly Price (vocals); Eric Rigler (whistling, pipes); K.B., Spec, Soulshock, Carlin, Rodney Jerkins (various instruments); Ali Boudris (acoustic guitar); Sherrod Barnes (guitar); Michael Thompson (electric guitar); Loren Dawson (strings); V. Jeffrey Smith (flute); Greg Philinganes (piano); Babyface (keybards, drum programming, background vocals); David Foster (keyboards); Larry Kimpel, Jerry Barnes, Nathan East (bass); Ricky Lawson (drums); Simon Franglen (keyboard programming); Felipe Elgueta (synthesizer programming); Sheila E (percussion); Shanice Wilson, Beverly Crowder, Sue Ann Carwell, Toni Estes, Sharlotte Gibson, Tavia Ivey, Robbie, Ryan Toby (background vocals).
Producers include: Clive Davis, Whitney Houston, Babyface, Missy "Misdemeanor" Elliott, Wyclef Jean.
Engineers include: Brad Gilderman, Manny Marroquin, Rickie St. Hilaire.
MY LOVE IS YOUR LOVE was nominated for the 2000 Grammy Award for Best R&B Album. "It's Not Right But It's Okay" won the 2000 Grammy Award for Best Female R&B Vocal Performance. "It's Not Right But It's Okay" was nominated for the 2000 Grammy Award for Best R&B Song. "Heartbreak Hotel" was nominated for the 2000 Grammy Award for Best R&B Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocal and for Best R&B Song.
For all intents and purposes, Whitney Houston retired from being a full-fledged recording artist after her third album, 1990s I'm Your Baby Tonight, choosing to be a Streisand-like celebrity who cultivated a career through movies, soundtrack contributions, and social appearances. She may have been content to continue in that direction for many years if Arista president Clive Davis didn't push her into recording My Love Is Your Love, her first album in eight years, which easily ranks among her best. Never before has Houston tried so many different sounds or tried so hard to be hip. It's one thing to work with Babyface, the standard-bearer of smooth soul in the '90s, but it's quite another to hire Wyclef Jean, Lauren Hill, Missy "Misdemeanor" Elliott, and Q-Tip -- all cutting-edge artists (albeit on the accessible side of the cutting edge), the kind who never would have been associated with Houston in the late '80s. The gambit works. There is still a fair share of David Foster-produced adult contemporary ballads, but the true news is on the up-tempo and mid-tempo dance numbers. In fact, the songs that feel the stiffest are the big production numbers; tellingly, they're the songs that are the most reminiscent of old-school Houston. That's not to say she can no longer belt out ballads convincingly -- in fact, the best ballads are where she restrains herself, delivering them with considerable nuance. Houston has never been quite so subtle before, nor has she ever shown this desire to branch out musically. That alone would be reason enough to rank My Love Is Your Love among her more interesting albums, but the fact that it works more often than not pushes it into the top rank of her recorded work. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine
Whitney Houston's voice is a marvel of technical perfection. Equally at home with pop, R&B or Gospel, Houston exerts unprecedented control over her celebrated pipes, moving through a song like a graceful bird in flight. It is this quality that makes MY LOVE IS YOUR LOVE such a consistently satisfying work. With a talent like hers, there's no need for Houston to stick to any one formula, so MY LOVE is all over the stylistic map. There's a novel update of the rock & roll classic "Heartbreak Hotel" enlivened by guest appearances from Faith Evans and Kelly Price. There's the no-nonsense "In My Business," where Houston gets down and dirty with hip-hop star Missy Elliott. Appropriately, though, this strong and varied collection closest out with a tune that hints at Houston's church-raised roots, the heartfelt, inspirational "You'll Never Stand Alone."Rolling Stone (1/21/99, p.72) - 3 1/2 (out of 5) "... The former ingenue has some grown-up scars now, singing the marital blues with a bite in her voice that she's never come close to before..."
Entertainment Weekly (12/18/98, p.86) - "This schizophrenic album is a primer on today's hip-hop/R&B scene: the good, the bad, and the Fugee....This unevenness makes Houston's greatest LOVE of all the season's best argument for programmable CD players." - Rating: B+