For a brief time in the late '60s, had the world at his feet -- well, at least he had a string of Top Ten singles, highlighted by and His powerful emoting, along with the melodramatic productions, made these singles hits; his backing band were always billed on the records, but they were kind of drowned out by the strings, backing vocals, horns and other studio trickery. These singles were state-of-the-art mainstream pop in the late '60s, and they remain radio favorites years after their initial release. That's why it seems a little strange that there has never been a definitive greatest-hits collection assembled in the CD age. It's a little less surprising when you dig into his catalog, since the also-ran singles and album tracks are primarily of interest to pop fetishists interested in artifacts of the time. That's why ' doesn't work for the public at large -- record collectors may find it of interest, but the less dedicated only need about five songs, not 27 tracks. And that's why Sony's budget-line is a nice addition to 's CD catalog. Like any other volume, it's brief, but in this case that's a positive attribute, since that means there's less filler than on other collections. All of the big hits are here -- not just the aforementioned smashes, but also -- plus good covers of such standards as There are no revelations among the songs that weren't hits, but the conciseness of the collection makes this the best way to pick up 's hits on CD. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine