THELMA HOUSTON – A WOMAN’S TOUCH

Thelma Houstons returns with a new CD on the Shout Factory label, A Woman’s Touch. She follows the trend that has been established by dozens of senior soul and pop artists over the past few years, the disc is a collection of remakes of soul classics from the 60s, 70s and 80s.  The twist in A Woman's Touch is that Houston has chosen to cover popular songs by some of her favorite strong male artists, giving them "a woman's touch." The good news is that Houston sounds great.  Her deep, bluesy voice is as distinctive as ever, and she appears at ease with the well worn collection of songs on A Woman's Touch.  Included on the CD are Marvin Gaye's "Ain't That Peculiar,"  Sting's "Brand New Day" and Marvin Gaye’s "Distant Lover."  Other uptempo tracks include, Luther Vandfross’ "Never too Much" and Sylvester's "You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real)" with the full disco diva treatment.  The remaining cuts range from Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes' "Wake Up Everybody" and "By the Time I Get to Phoenix".