Greatest Hits (CD - 2001)

Producers include: Dave Hall, Walter Afanasieff, Mariah Carey, P. Diddy, Jimmy Jam.

Mariah protested loud and often when her first hits collection, #1's, was released that the album was not a hits collection: "I haven't been recording long enough for that!" Nothing will age your catalog like leaving your record label, however, so when she flew the Columbia coop for Virgin in 2000, her old label assembled Greatest Hits for release a couple months after the monumental disaster of Glitter, her Virgin debut. Now, this move was surely designed to further wound the ailing Mariah, but this kind of collection was essentially inevitable, and it's about as good as it could be, containing all of her big hits (including songs that did not make it to the top of the charts) over the course of 28 tracks. This is certainly helpful, since it rounds up everything, but its double-disc running time is a bit of a detriment, since it simply is too much. By the end of the second disc, the collection feels a little padded, and her music simply sounds better in the more concentrated collection of #1's, since it runs smoother and has all the really big hits (with the notable exception of the original version of her best single, "Fantasy"). But if you want more simply for archival reasons, this will suit the bill (even though the packaging is unbearably skimpy: no notes, just publishing information and thumbnails of the single covers, which is like having no packaging at all). ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine

Despite various tabloid-worthy tribulations and a rather flat cinematic debut in the musical bio-flick GLITTER, Britney and her fellow singing Mousketeers would do well to take notes on the galactic-sized success of '90s diva Mariah Carey. The two-disc GREATEST HITS bears witness to Carey's mind-boggling chart dominance and her remarkable five-octave range. Encompassing all the chart-toppers of 1998's #1'S compilation including "I Don't Wanna Cry," "Hero," and "One Sweet Day," this anthology traces the Long Islander's path from heartfelt balladeer ("Vision Of Love," "Love Takes Time") to hip-hop flavored dance-pop queen ("Fantasy," "Make It Happen").

Among Mariah's most impressive traits is her ability to seamlessly match up with a wide range of duet partners. When she's not digging into a Jackson 5 hit with Trey Lorenz ("I'll Be There") or playing Diana Ross to Lionel Richie's Luther Vandross (the '80s smash "Endless Love"), Carey is throwing down with Jay-Z ("Heartbreaker") and going toe-to-toe with fellow diva Whitney Houston ("When You Believe"). Other notable collaborations include a harmony-soaked meeting with Boyz II Men ("One Sweet Day"), a sweet-flowing Jermaine Dupri outing ("Sweetheart") and a Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis-produced summit with Joe and 98 Degrees ("Thank God I Found You"). minimize