Patti Labelle's
When a Woman Loves displays much of the appealing warmth that has endeared her to millions of fans. It also marks another tribute to the most successful songwriter of the '90s,
Diane Warren. Johnny Mathis recorded a whole album of Warren songs on his 1998 Sony CD Because You Loved Me- The Songs of Diane Warren.
Jimmy Jam and
Terry Lewis produced the bulk of this mostly mellow album that is sprinkled with
Labelle's intimately voiced listener-aimed spoken interludes. Highlights are the
Khris Kellow-produced "If I Was a River," "Why Do Hurt Each Other," and "Tell Where It Hurts." The pace does pick up on the four-on-the-floor house track, "Too Many Tears, Too Many Times," mid-tempo hip-hop-flavored "Call Me Gone," and "Time Will." It's appropriate that
Patti Labelle should make a CD full of
Diane Warren's songs: she had the first hit with "If You Ask Me To" (
Celine Dion covered it three years later), and some of Warren's songs echo Philly soul (ex.
Mary J. Blige's "Give Me You"). ~ Ed Hogan