If we’re to believe what we read, Whitney’s on the verge of a comeback, so to stoke the fires, Sony BMG present us with this compact little 18-track ‘ultimate collection’. I say ‘compact’ ‘cos it supersedes the double CD greatest hits pack from a few years back. That one was confusing, including as it did, all kinds of remixes. Here, however, everything is straightforward with all the ‘chosen one’s’ greatest hits, starting, of course, with ‘I Will Always Love You’ and running through to ‘My Love Is Your Love’. In between you get stuff like ‘I Wanna Dance With Somebody’, ‘The Greatest Love Of All’ and ‘One Moment In Time’ as well as ‘Saving All My Love For You’ which still retains an honest and naive innocence despite the intervening years. There are also duets with Maria Carey (‘When You Believe’) and George Michael (‘If I Told You That’). Sadly, there’s no ‘Fine’ which people more passionate about the lady than me insist is actually her finest soul moment – but as with any artist we can all argue what constitutes ‘greatest’ or ‘ultimate’. Here we have the marketing department’s choice – take it or leave it.
(BB) 3/5
