MOTOWN WITH ANGELS' WINGS

By CHRISTOPHER JOHN FARLEY

REALLY GREAT GOSPEL SOMEtimes sounds like the devil. There are howls, whoops, shrieks, stomping feet, menacing bass licks and orgasmic musical undulations that would be downright sinful if they weren't being done in the name of the Lord. All this is no accident--gospel by its very form has the power to take worldly emotions and transform them into something sacred, something uplifting. Unfortunately, much of what passes for gospel today is too slick, too processed, too angelically artificial to tap into the essential emotions and sublime passions that are provoked by the genre's original, rootsier form. There's no salvation to be found in daintiness. If you want to baptize someone in the spirit, you've got to get your hands wet.

And that's precisely why the raw traditionalism of Cissy Houston's new album, Face to Face, is so refreshing. It's one of the first releases from House of Blues Music Company Recordings, a new record label owned by the people who operate the House of Blues theme-restaurant/performance venues (the disparate investors include Dan Aykroyd, the Harvard Endowment Fund and Aerosmith). The new label plans to specialize in releasing blues and blues-influenced albums from both younger performers and underappreciated older ones.

Houston, a former member of the '60s R.-and-B. quartet The Sweet Inspirations, isn't as famous as her superstar daughter Whitney, but Face to Face shows she's got a throat made from the same 18-karat gold. And although the elder Houston's new album probably won't sell as well as slicker, more contemporary-sounding gospel releases--and it certainly won't move as many units as the typical Whitney CD--its unabashed religiosity indicates that Houston has her sights set on a higher, very personal audience of One.

Gospel has roots in the blues, and Houston brings the music back to its source. Her opening song, God Don't Ever Change, shivers and stomps along like a Robert Johnson classic. The twanging guitar, the call-and-response between Houston and her background chorus, all help create an informal, sitting-in- a-sweaty-Southern-church-waving-a-hand-fan musical atmosphere. In fact, all the songs on the album, from the proud, soaring Too Close to the confessional Face to Face, have the earthy intimacy of top-notch blues. Along the way, Houston also turns in a patient, slow-building, ultimately satisfying rendition of Amazing Grace--an impressive feat, since the song has been covered so exhaustively by other performers that it's nearly impossible to find a fresh take.

The album's high point, however, draws from pure pop: a gospel rendition of Marvin Gaye's love song How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved by You). "'Cause you were better to me/ Than I was to myself/ For me there is you/ There ain't nobody else," Houston sings, as the chorus shadows her words with "I want to stop/ And thank you Jesus." On the song Houston's tart, high voice is strong and slightly rough, and the accompaniment is a warm wave of piano, organ and bass guitar. It's Motown with angels' wings, and gospel at its finest--taking something secular and making it divine.

--By Christopher John Farley