Not many artists can boast a greatest-hits album by their 21st birthday, but then not everybody logs a Lolita-ish hit at age 13, as the precocious Rimes did with the retro "Blue" in 1996. In many ways, that auspicious debut was her finest hour, full of hypnotic, yodel-laced magic and savant-like promise. Since then, she's recorded a fair amount of bankable pop ("One Way Ticket," "Can't Fight the Moonlight") and a seemingly bottomless well of tripe ("You Light Up My Life," "Written in the Stars" with Elton John). It all sits back-to-back on this collection of 16 familiar tunes, braced with a second DVD disc and three new audio recordings: "This Love," "Last Thing on My Mind" (a duet with Ronan Keating), and the holiday favorite, "O Holy Night." Alas, of the new songs, the first two point up the weakness of much of Rimes's career--her connect-the-dots emotionality. That ! leaves the heralded Christmas classic, on which she attempts some nervous Whitney Houston canoodling. Best advice: Put the player on "repeat," and enjoy the royal "Blue" treat that got this career rolling, before the aerobicized videos and the embarrassing lawsuit with Daddy.
--Alanna Nash
