Patti LaBelle

This is the LP that's supposed to lead to Patti LaBelle's coronation as the next comeback
queen, à la Tina and Aretha. After her two terrific crossover singles last summer, "New
Attitude" and "Stir It Up," plus media appearances everywhere, it seems, but The David
Susskind Show, the starmaking machinery seems all in place to make this la belle époque
for Patti. Still, on her first full LP of new material in three years, Patti hasn't come... More >

No previous crossover diva has purveyed such an out-and-out fabrication. Tina's weathered sexpot, Whitney's soulful yuppie--these are credible plays on credible personas. But though Patti is managed by her longtime husband and advised by her longtime son, she nevertheless keynotes her multiplatinum bid with a tribute to the loneliness of the soulful yuppie, written by yet another successfully married couple but inspired I'm sure by one-cut-stand Michael McDonald (cf. Tina meets Bryan, Aretha meets George, and I bet Whitney trades Jermaine in on Phil Collins or somebody next time). Then again, Patti doesn't start out with such surefire goods--her abrasive nasality has always kept her reputation cult. Which is why it's just as well for Patti that Richard Perry overwhelms the eight other producers: beats and tunes kick in till you could care less what organ she's singing through. (Grade: B)