Not too long ago, a video of the song “Count on me”, performed by Whitney Houston and Cece Winans, appeared on my facebook page (Thank you, Cierra!!). The song was featured on the soundtrack of the movie “Waiting to Exhale”; a movie that was an adapted from a book of the same name, written by Terry McMillan.
The movie featured four African-American women in leading roles – a Hollywood first – and was directed by Forest Whittaker. It’s really a great a movie and I’d highly recommend you watch it. Go “redbox” or “Netflix” or whatever you use; it’s a must watch. As good as the movie is, the soundtrack is a classic.
The album was released in 1995 and it featured some of the biggest names in the music industry at the time. You want to talk about "Star Power"? This record had it. It featured Whitney Houston when she was still Whitney Houston!!! Mary J. Blige when she was still a “diamond in the rough”, Toni Braxton, a young “up and coming” Brandy, TLC (fresh off the release of “Crazy, Sexy, Cool”), SWV and even Faith Evans (say whaaaat???). Then to kick it up a notch, there was Patti LaBelle, Chaka Khan, Aretha Franklin.
This was a great collection of the Old School and the New School, when hip-hop and R&B were reaching heights that have yet to be paralleled. Even the lesser known artists in this album held it down. This was an All-Star lineup that needed an All-Star producer; and that man was Kenneth Edmonds, better known as Babyface.
In the 90s world of R&B, producers didn't get much bigger than Babyface. If he penned a song for you, it was a guaranteed hit!! He had a hand in just about everything in album. The instruments, arrangement, production and wrote (or co-wrote) every song except for “My Funny Valentine”. In my opinion, this soundtrack was his best work, his masterpiece; nothing could even come close.
All the songs were great; from the lead off track, “Exhale (Shoop Shoop)” to “Count on me”, and everything else in between. The CD had a booklet with the lyrics, so you could “sing along” if you liked (I know I did). If there was anything that could be described as perfection, this had to be it. All the pieces fell in place; everything came together at the right time. There have been over 5.1 million copies sold to date, and songs such as “Exhale (Shoop Shoop)”, “Not gon’ cry”, and “Count on me” did just fine when released as singles. The album was nominated for and won a host of awards and was certified multi-platinum.
Following the album’s success, I was really looking forward to what some the younger artists might do with regard to their future projects. Other than Brandy - who had just broken through - and the older generation of singers, some the younger artists had hit their peak and were never really the same. Toni Braxton, TLC, SWV, Faith Evans etc, still had some hits but by the time the 90s came to an end their careers went with it.
Due to the current generation shift, we may never again witness such a combination of talent and creativity. For those that consider themselves connoisseurs of all things R&B, this is definitely an album to savour. There's some good soundtracks out there, but this has to be the best of them all.
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