
"Celine Dion", the eponymous album of the 24-year-old new diva, did not cause quite a marketing splash at the time of its release, as the Canadian singer worked on the territory successfully occupied by Mariah Carey and Whitney Houston at the time. But nevertheless, it's an album full of great songs with only a few fillers -- especially so, if you're into quality adult contemporary music. It finds songwriter Diane Warren at the top of her game -- although four years later she penned Celine's penultimate "Because You Loved Me" and Toni Braxton's classic "Un-break My Heart", she offers a handful of minor gems here, too. Songs like "If You Asked Me To", "Nothing Broken But My Heart", "I Love You, Goodbye" and "Water From the Moon" sound tried and good after all these years. Also hard to overlook here is the work of Mariah Carey's then-producer Walter Afanasieff, whose contribution, including the soaringly excellent "If You Could See Me Now" really feel like taken from Mariah's "Emotions" or "Music Box" albums. Celine could also be proud of her version to the Disney classic "Beauty and the Beast", sung as a duet with Peabo Bryson. (He later went on to record even a bigger Disney smash, "A Whole New World" from "Aladdin"). Prince also shows his romantic songwriting face in "With This Tear" and even Kenny G appears on a well-done, although rather synth-heavy collaboration "Halfway to Heaven". The album spawned a few Top 20 hits and remains a well-produced affair full of romantic songs sung in a great, youthful voice.
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