I have not seen The Bodyguard film, however, my
understanding of it is that it’s fundamentally a love story between
international superstar Rachel Marron (played by Whitney Houston), and her
bodyguard (Kevin Costner).
It almost goes without saying that Whitney Houston is one of
the strongest female vocalists in her genre, but I must preface this review
with a warning to anyone who chooses to purchase this soundtrack. Do NOT
compare The Bodyguard’s leading lady Alexandra Burke to Whitney Houston, or the
entire soundtrack will do nothing but underwhelm and disappoint you…
I have not seen the stage show of The Bodyguard, so I was
hoping I’d learn something about the story within the tracks; an instrumental
pause in the bridge with a dialogue exchange to offer some sort of context for
the song, for example, but no. The Bodyguard is made up of pre-existing tracks
from a variety of Whitney Houston albums (with the exception of Chakka Kahn’s
“I’m Every Woman” and the a-capella hymn “Jesus Loves Me”)
Now, maybe I’m being unreasonable here, but from the
soundtrack of a musical, I expect a basic variety of songs including a decent
selection of the following; ballads, upbeats, duets, solos, ensemble numbers,
males vocals, female vocals etc. The Bodyguard soundtrack may as well have been
titled “Alexandra Burke does Whitney Houston” as there is such a poor variety
of songs, I was massively disappointed.
Furthermore, every ballad in this show has exactly the same
format. A slow, low start with a gentle piano instrumental, a gradual build
with the introduction of the horn section, and then a painful minute or two of
the same belting and vocal gymnastics. Repetitive doesn’t even begin to cover
it.
Rachel Marron is played by Alexandra Burke, and her lower
register is flawless.
Super easy to listen to, and really enjoyable in its most
delicate portions, but the wow factor comes from her high-head voice and vocal
runs. Her belt is on point, but it’s just not my cup of tea. I find it quite
raspy and breathy, and it makes me a little uncomfortable… I was really hoping
for Burke to make this stellar role her own, and with a voice as beautiful as
hers, she could have done so much, but she doesn’t. It was an admirable attempt
as copying Whitney Houston, but it didn’t quite work for me.
There are two stand-out tracks on the album. The Mayan
Medley of “Million Dollar Bill/I Wanna Dance With Somebody/So Emotional” was
great. I welcomed this upbeat track with open arms and even had a little boogie
in my seat.
Burke’s best solo is “One Moment In Time” hands down! It’s
emotionally driven, and deeply heartfelt. You can hear the emotion tearing
through her performance. It’s a fantastic example of what happens when an
artist is less bothered about being vocally perfect and more interested in
delivering a real performance. I loved it.
However, the best ballad on the album is Melissa James’s
rendition of “All at Once”. Simply put, it’s outstanding.
There are however some considerably weaker tracks on this
album. “I Have Nothing” concludes Act 1 and is one of my all-time favourite
power ballads when sung by Whitney Houston. The track started… My heart
dropped. It had been transposed to a lower key to suit Miss Burke’s voice, and
in turn lost so much of its “X factor”. Oh the irony…
I must, however, praise the orchestra throughout this album
as it is not particularly large, but they do deliver some great music,
particularly the saxophones who inject some serious soul into the tracks.
Overall, I was disappointed with this soundtrack. I was left
feeling severely underwhelmed and disappointed. I’ve heard this show is really
quite good, however, the album alone has no ‘X Factor’.
Review by Harriet Langdown
Rating: ★★
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