The Greatest Hits

by

Whitney Houston

Edit

Which makes it a better CD. A greatest hits CD is not a greatest hits CD without the originals hits on it. I haven't heard the U.S. version - but to be honest I wouldn't buy it because the songs are probably unrecognisable.

The following is the track listing for the UK CD that I copied from Amazon.co.uk:

Disc: 1 1. Saving all my love for you 2. Greatest love of all 3. One moment in time 4. I have nothing 5. I will always love you 6. Run to you 7. You give good love 8. All at once 9. Where do broken hearts go 10. If you say my eyes are beautiful (Duet with Jermaine Jackson) 11. Didn't we almost have it all 12. All the man that I need 13. Exhale (shoop shoop) 14. Count on me (Duet with CeCe Winans) 15. I believe in you and me 16. I learned from the best 17. Same script, different cast (Duet with Deborah Cox) 18. Could I have this kiss forever (Duet with Eurique Iglesias)(Metro mix)

Disc: 2 1. If I told you that (Whitney Houston & George Michael) 2. Fine 3. My love is your love 4. It's not right but it's okay 5. Heartbreak hotel 6. Step by step 7. Queen of the night (Cj Mackintosh mix) 8. I'm every woman 9. Love will save the day 10. I'm your baby tonight 11. So emotional 12. I wanna dance with somebody (who loves me) 13. How will I know 14. I will always love you (Hex Hector mix) 15. Greatest love of all (Club 69 mix) 16. It's not right but it's okay (Thunderpuss mix) 17. I'm your baby tonight (Dronez mix)

All of the tracks that people are complaining about being missing from the US version are on this one instead. I hope you manage to get your hands on a copy - you'll like it!

Perhaps if Arista downplayed the "greatest hits" label in favor of a more accurate title--maybe creating a unique two-cover front/back packaging based on the COOL DOWN/THROW DOWN theme--this set might have been met with less fan resistance. To sum up the majority opinion (and I agree): Disc 1/COOL DOWN is a fine if incomplete remastered representation of Whitney's most famous ballad performances. Disc 2/THROW DOWN mostly plays remix games with her up-tempo cuts--and most buyers would seem to prefer the original versions on a "greatest hits" collection. Couldn't the remixes have been issued on a separate CD targeted to the fans who want them?

To the potential buyer...if you aren't picky about having the original versions of every Houston hit, this colection is a decent but flawed representation of her career--probably a good deal given the discounted price. If you were hoping that this set would render all other Whitney CDs obsolete by collecting the best, unaltered tracks from each album, your expectations will NOT be met here--not even close! NONE of Whitney's uptempo hit singles are heard here except in a significantly remixed/altered state.

Two solutions: 1) if you have a DVD player, the video version of this album has the original versions of a much greater percentage of Whitney's hits than does this audio release (PLUS you get the visuals). And/or 2) pay extra money and get an import version of GREATEST HITS, which has the original versions of most of Whitney's dance hits as well as her ballads.