It’s fitting that Sony reissued Whitney Houston’s debut album just as a new season of American Idol began. The female contestants that pass through those national auditions – those shy young girls with voices that can take the paint off aluminum siding – probably don’t realize what a debt they owe to Houston’s early career. But that connection shines through on Whitney Houston: The Deluxe Anniversary Edition.

Much of what we recall about Houston is incredibly broad – at best, she’s a massively talented, infinitely successful songstress, at worst she was the drug-addled ex-Mrs. Bobby Brown – but the Houston we hear on this first album is none of those things. Whitney, 22 at the time, had the same vocal range, but there’s a crazy American Idol-esque innocence about her, not only in delivery but presentation.

Consider the many pictures in the generous liner notes, where Houston – usually a pinnacle of grace on album covers – looks like a starstruck kid in transit from school to the mall. This is not the look you’d expect of anyone of Houston’s vocal caliber, especially someone who has Dionne Warwick for a cousin and Aretha Franklin for a godmother.

While Houston’s role as powerful but innocent singer often works throughout the record, especially the monster hit “How Will I Know” and heart-tugging ballads like “Saving All My Love for You” and “All at Once,” listeners may ultimately tire of the ruse. Those listeners eventually get their due by the album’s end, with “Greatest Love of All” and “Hold Me” (a tender duet with Teddy Pendergrass) setting the template for the forward, in-control delivery that made Whitney and The Bodyguard soundtrack such treats.

Back catalogue fans have much to digest on this deluxe release. The five bonus tracks are mostly vintage dance remixes, but two rare treats – a powerhouse live version of “Greatest Love of All” and the a cappella track to “How Will I Know” – will send shivers down your spine. The bonus DVD is also great, offering new interviews with Houston and her longtime producer/mentor Clive Davis as well as four music videos and three live TV performances (including her historic 1983 debut on The Merv Griffin Show).

As an album, Whitney Houston isn’t her most defining moment, but this deluxe edition does a great job of showing off the roots of a legend. Here’s hoping Legacy follows up with a reissue of Whitney for its 25th anniversary in 2012.