Could offer more for completists.
V. Suzukawa | Los Angeles | 06/17/2009
(3 out of 5 stars)
"If you have previous releases - Un Autre Univers, 7 Vies, Greatest Hits 2004 w/bonus disc, In Deep, and Souvenirs - you've got most of this. Perhaps this is a good way to sample her French songs if you're on a budget, but those were all good albums and I'd recommend the full CDs more than most of her other releases anyway.
But, considering Greatest Hits was almost all radio versions, you'd think they'd have made some effort to include the radio versions here. Nope. Tu Es Toujours La is the radio/video mix, which is nice, but that's all, everything else are album cuts. I was hoping for the radio versions of Les Trois Cloches or Aller Plus Haut, which I think have only been released on CD single. And I Want To Know What Love Is and Chains are also here in the album rather than radio cuts. And for some strange reason, the full English Symphony of Life is included here, rather than Symphonie De L'ame, the French-English adaptation.
Thus, the only really new things brought to the table are Night Fever, This Universe, and Out Here On My Own. Night Fever must be leftover from Songs of Love and Loss; it's just a straight cover of the Bee Gee's disco song. And I'm not a fan of disco. This Universe is definitely the best, a breezy uptempo track that seems slightly reminiscient of her Just Me material, though strangely it's in English...you'd think they'd have done a new French bonus track for this collection. And Out Here On My Own is typical schmaltzy wedding song stuff, but admittedly it's not even her best duet...once again, it's fully in English, and Patrick Fiori's pronunciation isn't quite up to snuff. Then again, I'm not a francophone, so I can't say how accurate her French is either.
So not exactly worthwhile for an above-average collector. Again, a good introduction to her material, but her full albums are worth purchasing instead.
If you want to just pop in one CD instead of five, it's certainly the best highlights and almost all good songs instead of filler, but in this day and age of iPods and playlists, it may be moot.
One final note: Some sites say this has 18 tracks, but there are actually 19...the final addition is nothing new, just Et Puis Apres from Un Autre Univers."
Track Listings (19) - Disc #1