The year was 1986, when Whitney Houston had freshly had the taste of international success with the advent of her debut project, that turned her into one of the most promising stars of the 1980’s.
Her 1985-released self-titled debut album, boasting of three #1 singles, turned her into a household name, by becoming the biggest selling debut from a female in history.
But despite all the success that the record brought along, or the successive records brought along – Houston’s talent was way too gigantic to be contained in the confinements of Pop music, which her mentor Clive Davis, had designed for her.
And while the studio managed to capture her vocal beauty with utmost precision, it was during a live performance her talent burst out like a river flowing and rushing through a thunderous storm.
During one such astonishing vocal showcase in her maiden world tour, Houston reinterpreted her Billboard #1 hit, Saving All My Love For You and took it to new heights.
It was in Japan, and the year was 1986. While an official recording of the performance does not exist, the bootlegs circulating on internet do enough to display her ability to infuse melodrama into simple words with surprising musical precision through her creative interpretations and on-the-spot improvisations.
A single phrase is carried through the realms of the Operatic prowess of her stunning head voice, venturing straight into the grittiness of a talent raised in African-American church, bursting out from her gut with such passion that it feels like she’s going to explode with it.
As the first notes are struck on the piano, she teases her audiences with, “Gonna save, I’m gonna save. I decided I’m gonna save” – and you already know she’s ready to totally immerse her very being into the performance, investing all of herself, physically and emotionally – an ability which became an essential part of the ‘Whitney Houston Live’ experience.
“Play it a little sweet. Please” – she sings to her band, as she starts the song with her angelic head voice, slowing down the pace of this Jazz inspired tune – while her band shows full cooperation to wherever she’s willing to take the song with her voice. Her first big note comes when she sings ‘..but no other man is gonna do’, almost restraining herself back in the middle of the note, to showcase vulnerability.
When she reaches the second verse, she leaves a few restrained growls in-between denoting a lustful urge forming inside her belly.
When she reaches the bridge and sings ‘That’s just an old fantasy’, the time comes for her to put her melisma to use – as she takes her voice to the ringing highs, reminiscent of her mother Cissy Houston’s soprano. With a frill, her voice comes down, and then goes back up again, producing a few more notes in succession. She does it again when she announces “we’ll be making love the whole night through” once again, producing multiple notes on a single syllable.
What starts after this is a 2 minute long no-lyric ad-lib, with Ms. Houston producing such sugary delicate softness through her voice that it induces tingles, just as she intends to. And then slowly this showcase of her operatic head voice takes the form of growled scatting, following which she starts exclaiming ‘Saving My Love’ and ‘I’m Saving’ with such fervour and passion – that you can feel every part of her being, ready to unabashedly proclaim her commitment to that love. That moment of transition is not only breathtaking but also a monumental display of her artistry.
At this point you can hear from this no-visual bootleg, that the artist has become one with the song and that church-bred soul in her is erupting from every part of her body and not just her voice. It does not even matter that she’s on stage, performing to a crowd of thousands.
And just like that she concludes this 8 minute 25 second musically extravagant tour of a 4 minute track, as her background singers chime-in to harmonise with the last ‘you.’
During the peak of her artistry, Saving All My Love For You remained a track she experimented with the most in a live setting. And this unreleased version from Japan remains one of her many great interpretations of this benchmark-setting classic.
The year 1986 itself will offer several such knee-weakening performances, and the interpretations kept on changing and encompassing genres as she went from one career chapter to another, and her voice became darker and deeper.
But her version from Japan will always have a special place.