The collaboration between Patti Labelle and Diane Warren might not be as splendiferous as that of Dionne Warwick and Bacharach and David, but it is one that makes sense. Labelle is an emotional singer with an üaut;ber-dramatic approach. Warren, whose pop/soul songs ("Unbreak My Heart, "Because You Loved Me") have been hits for nearly every major female singer (including Labelle), can at her best infuse her material with a girlfriend empowerment that's equally theatrical. The result is a CD that is Oprah's slumber party--an estrogen-enhanced litany of L.U.V. delivered by a singer who can give soul to a line as hackneyed as "If I was the sun I would shine my light to light your world". It is Labelle's voice that saves When a Woman Loves from cliché city; and on the hushed title track and the disco-driven "Too Many Tears, Too Many Times," Labelle makes magic out of material that teeters toward the mushy. --Amy Linden
