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Houston? She has a problem

“I LOOK TO YOU,” Whitney Houston (RCA)

At first glance, Whitney Houston appears confident and serene in the photo on the cover of her new “I Look to You.” But after hearing the release, a second look at the picture reveals something off about her ambivalent, Mona Lisa smile, something uncertain in her eyes.

Something like reluctance.

Houston never comes across as fully invested in “I Look to You,” her first release of new material since 2002’s “Just Whitney.” This despite an army of top-shelf supporters: Her mentor Clive Davis is there to co-produce the release; she’s got David Foster, StarGate and Swizz Beatz around producing individual tracks; songwriters include Alicia Keys, Foster, Diane Warren and R. Kelly; and Akon is a guest vocalist.

“I Look to You” is often pleasant — there’s a retro (sometimes kitschy) air in dance songs such as “Nothin’ But Love” and “A Song for You,” a fluid grace to the tribute to love “Worth It,” and a timeless show of quaint soul in the Keys-penned “Million Dollar Bill.”

However, Houston herself sounds disconnected and sometimes unfamiliar, her enunciation erratic — and nearly painful on the title track,

Meanwhile, the role of backing vocalists is often overplayed, the pace tends to be sluggish, and the overall feeling is generic as Houston goes through the paces singing about love, self-revelation and overcoming hardship.

Although it’s difficult to pinpoint outright failures, it’s just as difficult to pinpoint any sparkling moments. “I Look to You” is just ... there.

On the bitter closer “Salute,” a defiant Houston declares, “Don’t call it a comeback, I’ve been here for years.”

She’s right, it’s not a comeback. It’s merely a return.

Rating (five possible): 2-1/2

Playful Pitbull wears no leash

“REBELUTION,” Pitbull (RCA)

Although Miami rapper Armando Christian Perez adopted a stage name that sounds tenacious, Pitbull is really more of a party animal than a fighting beast.

On “Can’t Stop Me Now,” a track off his new “Rebelution,” he playfully weaves around a wobbly strum and propulsive beat to make light of rappers who carry on about drugs, and on the choppy cut “Give Them What They Ask For,” he straight-up says he’s not a thug or a gangsta, he’s a hustler.

What Pitbull is hustling is a good time, and he does it by fusing together three of the most demonstrative genres of music: rap, electronic and Latin. So anyone looking for subtlety can just mosey along.

“Rebelution” sounds like a slightly more organized Black Eyed Peas, and it’s often insanely contagious. Egged on by resonating bass and horn accents, naughty Pitbull invites a lady to, “Forget about your boyfriend and meet me at the hotel room” on the rowdy “Hotel Room Service,” though if she wants to bring along female friends, he’s cool with that. His addiction to women also provides the subtext to the hormone-fueled “Girls,” and he needs nothing more than a heady beat and the refrain, “I know you want me/You know I want you” to make his case on “I Know You Want Me (Calle Ocho).”

Yet the late-2008 hit “Krazy,” also featured on “Rebelution,” baits the hook better than all other tracks, with hydraulic rhythm, guest shouter Lil Jon and bouncing bee effect aiding Pitbull’s methodical infection.

To his credit, the performer ventures into diversity late on “Rebelution,” offering gentle reflection on “Across the World” and social commentary (with a beat!) on “Daddy’s Little Girl,” but Pitbull never strays too far from his home turf.

Rating: 4

Skillet has sonic issues to iron out

“AWAKE,” Skillet (Atlantic)

As often is the case with Christian-oriented acts being pushed to the mainstream, the publicity release for Skillet’s new “Awake” avoids reference to God or Christianity. Instead, the Memphis band is labeled an “alternative outfit” and “modern rockers.”

Although Skillet doesn’t mete out religion with a heavy hand, it’s clear from the lyrics and song titles such as “Believe” and “Forgive” that there’s something faith-based going on. But it’s benign, so it’s hard to imagine how it would be detrimental for the group to be outed to the unsuspecting masses for its Christianity.

Instead, there are other more harmful c-words that plague “Awake”: It’s clumsy, choppy and lacks hard-rock credibility.

It’s easy enough to hang with Skillet’s self-conscious chaos for a while; the quirky apocalypse of opener “Hero” introduces sonic tension, and the subsequent cut follows through with a Tim-Burton-appropriate “Monster,” where hoarse lead singer John Cooper shreds his vocal chords with lines like, “I must confess that I feel like a monster.” Skillet also scores with the power ballad “One Day Too Late,” encouraging listeners to be better people today, “because tomorrow could be one day too late.”

Unfortunately, this band is so determined to thrash and bulldoze, perhaps as a means to enhance its standing as a legitimate modern-rock band, that it comes across as desperately discordant. Add to that Cooper’s limited delivery and the group’s insidious inability to generate a good rhythm — which forces tracks into stagnant miasmas — that “Awake” ultimately sounds unmusical.

The message may be subtle, but the music is not. In all the wrong ways.

Rating: 2-1/2

© 2009, Knoxville News Sentinel
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