The first American single-disc compilation since 1991's , 's 2007 bests that previous set even if it falls just short of being truly definitive. The problem area lies in the place where it clearly attempts to distinguish itself from its predecessor: the inclusion of songs. Where never attempted to explore this territory, does, but with the exception of all of the songs are re-recordings -- is performed with , there's a live version of and a version of performed live with . None of these is necessarily bad, but it's hard not to wish that the original versions of these hits were alongside the original versions of and since that would have resulted in a perfect retrospective. With the live versions, this merely becomes a near-perfect compilation, representing the scope and range of ' career, as a solo artist, as a member of , and as a duet partner. The big songs from all of her career are here, along with some sharply chosen lesser-known tunes -- including a live version of 's -- that, along with good annotation by (and in the case of the deluxe edition, a DVD of 13 of her videos), help paint a full portrait of ' career so well that it makes it all the more obvious that this compilation needs the originals of the songs to be perfect, but as it stands, is very good (indeed, it's the best retrospective assembled to date). ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine