Whitney Houston – Whitney Houston
ORDER LIMITED TO ONE ITEM PER CUSTOMER
Whitney Houston – vocals [click here to see more vinyl featuring Whitney Houston]
Duet Vocals : Jermaine Jackson (A3, A5, B3), Teddy Pendergrass (B5)
Background vocals : Cissy Houston, Julia Waters (A4, B2, B4-5), Debbie Thomas (A4, B2, B4-5), Oren Waters (A4, B2, B4-5), Yogi Lee (A1-2), Mary Canty, Maxine Waters (A4, B2, B4-5)
Bass : Nathan East (A3-5, B2-5), Ready Freddie Washington (A3, A5, B3), Randy Jackson (A2),
Keyboards : Robbie Buchanan (A4, B2, B4-5), Randy Kerber (A4, B2, B4-5), Yvonne Lewis, Richard Marx (A4, B2, B4-5),
Guitar : Paul Jackson Jr. (A3-5, B2-5), Dann Huff (A4, B2, B4-5), Tim May (A3, A5, 8), Ira Siegal (A1-2), David Williams (A3, A5, B3), Louie Shelton (A4, B2, B4, B5), Corrado Rustici
Synthesizer : Preston Glass, Greg Phillinganes (A3, A5, B3)
Drums : Ed Greene (A3, A5, B3), John Robinson (A3, A5, B3), J.T. Lewis (A1, A2), Steve Rucker (A3, A5, B3), Roy Wooten (A1, A2),
Saxophone : Premik Russell Tubbs, Soloist – Tom Scott (A4), Ernie Watts (A3, A5, B3)
Clarinet : John Barnes (A3, A5, B3)
Percussions : Bashiri Johnson (A1-2)
Written by Freddie Washington (A3), George Merrill (B1), Gerry Goffin (A4), James P. Dunne (A5), Jeffrey Osborne (B2), Kashif (A2), Linda Creed (B4-5), Pamela Phillips (A5), Peter McCann (B3), Raymond Jones (A3), Shannon Rubicam (B1), Steve Dorff (B3), LaLa (A1-2)
1 LP, standard sleeve
Limited to 4,000 Numbered Copies
Original analog Master tape : YES
Heavy Press : 180g SuperVinyl
Record color : black
Speed : 33RPM
Size : 12”
Stereo
Studio
Record Press : RTI
Label : Mobile Fidelity
Original Label : Arista
Recorded 1983-84
Engineered by Michael Mancini (A4, B4), Michael O'Reilly (A1-2), Russell Schmitt (A4, B4), Michael Barbiero (B1)
Mixed by Billy Bottrell (A3, A5, B3), Bill Schnee (A4, B2, B4, B5), Michael O'Reilly (A1 to A3, B1)
Produced by Kashif (A1-2), Jermaine Jackson (A3, A5, B3), Narada Michael Walden (B1), Michael Masser (A4, B2, B4-5)
Executive-Producer – Clive Davis
Art Direction by Donn Davenport
Photography by Garry Gross
Originally released in February 1985
Reissued in 2024
Tracks;
Side A
- You Give Good Love
- Thinking About You
- Someone For Me
- Saving All My Love For You
- Nobody Loves Me Like You Do
Side B
- How Will I Know
- All At Once
- Take Good Care Of My Heart
- Greatest Love Of All
- Hold Me
Awards:
Rolling Stone 500 Greatest Albums of All Time - Ranked 249/500
1986 Grammy Award Winner: Best Pop Vocal Performance, Female: "Saving All My Love for You"
Inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2013
In 2018, Pitchfork placed Whitney Houston at number 117 on their list of "200 Best Albums of the 1980s
Reviews :
“As big a hit as it was -- and it was a multi-platinum blockbuster, spinning off several chart-toppers -- it’s not easy to think of Whitney Houston’s 1985 debut as the dawning of a new era, but it was. Arriving in the thick of MTV, when the slick sounds of yacht-soul were fading, Whitney Houston is the foundation of diva-pop, straddling clean, cheery R&B and big ballads designed with the adult contemporary audience in mind. Houston’s background lay in the former -- actually, it was even riskier, encompassing a stint with the experimental Bill Laswell outfit Material -- and her benefactor Clive Davis knew all about selling records to the masses. Appealing as this album is, Davis may never have imagined how Whitney Houston would shift tastes, pushing toward skyscraping ballads where the singer’s affectations, not the songs, were paramount -- a move that later led to hollow records, but on Whitney Houston the songs were as important as the immaculate productions. Certainly, the showstopping “Greatest Love of All” provided the blueprint for decades of divas, but it’s the only overblown moment here, with the rest of the ballads -- notably “Saving All My Love for You” and “You Give Good Love” -- burning slowly and seductively, but what really impresses some 20-plus years on are the lighter tracks, particularly the breakthrough single “How Will I Know” and the unheralded “Thinking About You,” a dance/R&B hit co-written by Kashif that remains one of Whitney’s purest pop pleasures. These joyful, rhythmic moments faded away from Houston’s later work -- and also rarely surfaced on the records of those who followed her -- but their presence on this debut turns this into a fully rounded record, the rare debut that manages to telegraph every aspect of an artist's career in a mere ten songs.” AllMusic Review by Stephen Thomas Erlewine
Ratings :
AllMusic : 5 / 5 , Discogs : 4.05 / 5