Music
Review: Whitney Houston’s Incomparable Talent Returns on ‘The Concert for a New South Africa (Durban)’ Live Album
“Find Strength in Love” Whitney Houston she sings at the tip of her latest live album, “The Concert for a New South Africa (Durban).” He spends a full minute saying those five syllables.
The song is titled “Greatest Love of All”. At the start of the last verse, Houston jumps from note to notice. At the word “strength,” her amazing alto blossoms, climbs and adds vibrato. When she gets to the word “love”, she playfully skips a few notes, leaving the last one alone, and the strength of its beauty matches the message.
Houston was a singer, as confirmed in “The Concert for a New South Africa (Durban)”. Unfortunately, the album also shows how the pop diva’s unrivaled talent was wasted on her died in 2012 on the age of 48.
The album might be released on Friday after a limited theatrical release a film commemorating the thirtieth anniversary of Houston’s three concert events in 1994 in South Africa – in Durban, Johannesburg and Cape Town. They celebrated a newly united nation after apartheid and elections Nelson Mandela as president.
This album presents the primary album which took place in Durban on November 8, 1994. It can be the first-ever live concert album in Houston.
“I’ve never felt so much love,” Houston tells fans on the stadium. Ten of the 21 tracks on the digital album (there are 24 tracks in total, including the intro and three versions of the identical song, which include a live track, a previously unreleased studio recording and a remix) have titles with the word “love” or some variety, and there are huge hits throughout the set. These include “I Will Always Love You”, “How Will I Know” and “I Wanna Dance with Somebody (Who Loves Me)”, that are nice to take heed to in such a festive setting.
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Unfortunately, the dimensions of the event only reinforces Houston’s tendency to over-sing. Her message appears to be intended for the upper row of the stadium, which is comprehensible but tiring when listening through headphones. Maybe you needed to be there.
The theatrics of the vocals often don’t match the inferior material, and Houston twists the lyrics like he’s attempting to remove lather. This is complemented by the dated, dated arrangements of its large supporting solid, which range from lush synths to hairband guitar solos, although there are also great contributions from horns and backing vocalists.
The second half of the show is stuffed with moments of grace. Houston’s song selection is “Love Is,” a sweet ballad that also appears on the album in a previously unreleased 1990 studio recording and a remix. Houston gives a compelling reading of “The Greatest Love of All,” and the occasion is full of the energetic “Touch the World.”
The best episode comes when Houston takes the audience to a megachurch. “Jesus Loves Me” becomes a song for children of all ages since it shows an unusual soul in tradition Sister Rosetta Tharpe, Ray Charles AND Aretha Franklin.
“Amazing Grace” follows, and when Houston twists the word “wretch” with brutal vulnerability, the lyrics sound as honest as anything she’s ever sung.