Patti LaBelle is no stranger to success after almost 30 albums, a boatload of hit singles and the role of being a genuine diva. She seems to have stayed with the current R&B trends on When a Women Loves and has also picked a solid batch of songs to sing, most of which were written by Diane Warren. Titles like "If I Was a River," "Why Do We Hurt Each Other," and "Make Tonight Beautiful" are on the same path as some of Warren's other masterpieces, like the Celine Dion hit "Because You Loved Me" and the Aerosmith comeback "I Don't Wanna Miss a Thing."
In fact, LaBelle capitalizes on other artists' momentum, interpreting Trisha Yearwood's "I Still Love You More," Kathy Troccoli's "Tell Me Where It Hurts" and Taylor Dayne's "Love Will Lead You Back" with a soulful flair. LaBelle also gains extra leverage from the hit making team Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, who lent their production to the potential singles "Why Do We Hurt Each Other" and "Too Many Tears, Too Many Times."
On a negative note, LaBelle sounds foolish on the funky "Call Me Gone," and she is way too old to be singing the clubbish "Time Will," a track which conjures up nightmares of Cher or Tina Turner's last comebacks with "Believe" and "When the Heartache is Over" respectively.
These two cuts don't ruin the disc, they just taint the otherwise stellar collection. It's doubtful this diva will gain a younger audience, despite her effort, but fans that have been there since the beginning will eat this one up. With any artist that has been around for the long haul, fans may begin to wonder if they will hang it up in the near future. Retirement is not even an option for LaBelle. "I still have so much more to do, so many other things to try," she says. "I have a lot of blessings, a lot to be thankful for...but I'm always excited about what else there is for me to do." It looks like she will be around for some time to come and it will be interesting to see what happens next in her ever changing career.
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