Search - Britney Spears :: The Singles Collection (Special Edition) (CD/DVD)

Great music; largely unnecessary collection

Andrew Budgell | 11/10/2009

(3 out of 5 stars)

"In 2004, when Britney Spears released her first greatest hits collection, "Greatest Hits: My Prerogative," many scoffed. Why, after only four studio albums, would Britney release a greatest hits record? However, I defended her. Love her or loathe her, few artists have churned out hit after hit quite like Britney, and evidently a solid album's worth of greatest hits.



It's now five years later and Britney is releasing her second hits package, "The Singles Collection." This time around I am less than enthusiastic. Don't great me wrong, her music is still great. But in the five years since the first collection, Spears has released two studio albums: "Blackout" (the album I consider to be her greatest work) and "Circus," its decent follow-up. However, do only two additional albums warrant another hits collection? Perhaps, but what we are given here is a below par effort.



The lead single to promote the album, "3" is another infectious pop track from Britney, one that debuted at number one on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. However, that's pretty much where my enthusiasm for this release ends; "3" is the only new track. That being said, my biggest gripe with this release is that her entire catalogue of singles isn't even represented here. Forgotten singles include "Sometimes," "Lucky," "From the Bottom of My Broken Heart," "Don't Let Me Be the Last to Know," "My Prerogative," and "Break the Ice." If all of Britney's singles were included this would have been a 2-disc set. A 2-disc set would have provided the perfect opportunity to include unreleased songs such as "Love Is (A State of Grace)", thus making this set worthwhile to owners of the previous hits album.



In the end this is a collection of songs that actually includes only one more track than the previous hits collection. While these songs have been digitally remastered, I highly doubt that would benefit some of the newer songs. I recommend this release to fans that didn't get around to purchasing Britney's first greatest hits. Like I said, the music is great. But for the rest there is little incentive to buy this. To me this seems like a decision to gouge Britney's fans during the holiday season."

Good Collection? Yes. Definitive? NO!

iPod Fan 3 | 11/10/2009

(4 out of 5 stars)

"So I've been a big Britney Spears fan since her debut "...Baby One More Time", so when I heard they were releasing "The Singles Collection" I was pretty excited. I mean I thought it would pretty much be a CD of the last ten years of my life. And the CD is good, but it's far from "The last ten years of my life".



What bothers me about the collection is the lack of older hits. No "Sometimes," "Lucky," or "From the Bottom of My Broken Heart." What's up with that? I mean that was when I liked her most. And why did they include "Boys"? I hardly even remember that one, I didn't even know that it was released as a remix until "Greatest Hits: My Prerogative". Was it really a bigger hit than "Overprotected"?



I was first also thrown off by the inclusion of "Born to Make You Happy" on the US edition, since it wasn't a US single, but now it's one of my favorite Britney songs so I'm glad they included it.



On the positive, the booklet basically makes it worth the purchase. It features interesting facts and pictures from the music videos of each single on this CD. (Although I'm pretty sure the Box Set (Britney Spears: The Singles Collection (Deluxe)) will have this too, with all of the singles).



Either way, it's an OK collection, but hardly definitive. This is more for the casual fan, while the CD Singles box is for hardcore fans."

Great collection, but lacking some hits

Alan Mansfield | 11/20/2009

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Ok, I love Britney. That said, this CD is a pretty decent collaboration of hits, yet is still lacking some of her more memorable singles. My issue, just as with several other reviews, is the fact that there are several other hits that are not included... the biggest for me are Overprotected (darkchild mix) and Break the Ice. But that being said, I do think the rest of the album is outstanding. 3 is an awesome, catchy up beat pop hit. And I think it shows how Britney has finally crossed into a new category, possibly trying to keep up with Lady Gaga's more racy, sexual beats. Britney has her own sexual inuendos obviously, but personally I dont think she's had anything comparable to Lady Gaga's 'bluffin with my muffin' LoL But now she definitely does... 3 is definitely more towards the adult audience rather than every day run of the mill teen pop.



And truly, she's got what, 6 albums now? Unless she was going to do a 2 disc set, WHICH WOULD HAVE BEEN NICE!, there is no way to shove all her hits onto 1 cd. She, or the record label or whoever, chose the 'bigger & more popular' hits from past records....



-3 ok, I already talked about this one... it is a great song... but parents shouldn't let their 8 y/o's jam out in the car to it either. I hate that its the only new material that's offered here though.



-Baby One More Time had to be on there, its her first ever...and a favorite of mine.



-The Crazy remix is also infectious! Even my rather conservative mother likes this song, granted its b/c of the way Brit says 'only' in the 2nd verse but I'll take that.



-Born to Make You Happy... now this is a good song and also one of my favorites... however when it comes down to greatest hits/single collection collaboration kind of thing, it's just not on the same level as "Sometimes" honestly I prefer this song on the CD, but for her fans it could have been replaced with the above mentioned song.



-Oops I Did it Again... ok, she did it again. It's got a great beat but I still can't stand the spoof on Titanic in the middle... it just gets in the way of the flow of the song. Other than that the song is still a winner.



-Stronger... this is a wonderful song. It kind of ties in to Hit me baby one more time since her loneliness aint killin her no more whereas it was in hit me one more time. But if thats intended or not, who knows. But the lyrics are bold and the music itself is intense. And if she was only going to choose a couple singles from this cd, I feel oops and stronger were the 2 best... but Dont let me be the last to know was also a killer hit that could have been added. (I mean come on, this album and her 3rd album, Britney, only had 2 songs taken from them for this... why not 3 each?)



-Slave 4 U this is so my favorite Brit song ever. I dont listen to it as often as her new material obviously but OMG, I use to get down to this more hip hop sounding song back in the day, every day! Seeing her debut it on the MTV MVA's was amazing... and very gutsy of her to do seeing as how it was the first time the world ever heard the song.



-Boys - ok I like this song. But I feel it no where climbed the charts or the popularity height of "Overprotected" or even "I'm Not A Girl, Not Yet A Woman" Personally I dont care much for 'not a girl' but OVERPROTECTED! would have been a wonderful addition. Boys... this is the version that was released as a single back in its hay-day, but for me I prefer the original album version with out Pharrell on it.



-Me Against the Music - everyone seems to gripe about this song. I felt it had to be on the singles collection... it has Madonna on it for crying out loud! How can her singles collection not include both queens of pop on it? Plus its pretty easy to just get down and dance to it as well.



-Toxic ... this is one of her best songs. Someone else was saying they thought that kylie's people wrote it for her? I may be wrong on that but no, it has been redone. I cannot remember who the artist was that originally sang the original version of it, but it was decades ago... and no where near as popular as Britney's version.



-Everytime - a pretty ballad... and a number one hit as well. However, compared to the rest of the album, it isn't a hip hop track, its not a dance track, its more of a skip track. I love the song, dont get me wrong. But again compared to the other songs that encourage one to get up and get down, this one is obviously lacking. From this CD, In the Zone, Outrageous would have been a better choice. However the problem with "Outrageous" is it never got to become a true hit... right when she was planning to release it and making a video she injured her ankle (right before the whole K-Fed crisis)



-Gimme More... Blackout was a MAGNIFICENT dance album... I think her best work ever. But it didn't get the reviews it deserved because she was to busy shaving her head so thats what was in the media instead. Gimme More is a very catchy tune and infectious lyrics... you hear it and want to sing.



-Piece of Me... this song is honest and open. It reveals how Brit feels about the paparrazzi and how they never stop hounding her. This song rightfully won several awards at the VMA's... Its lyrics are just real... its a whole new side of Britney. In addition to these 2 songs, Break the Ice so should have been included. It wasn't a major hit unfortunately, but it was an amazing song though.



-Womanizer - We all know how this song goes. Great beat, great tunes, great lyrics. Britney made her comeback!



-Circus - and she kept her comeback going too. This song has great verses.. the chorus itself is a little lacking to me but all together its definitely a keeper.



-If You Seek Amy - this is plain and simple a very fun song. It wasn't quite the hit that Womanizer and Circus came to be, but none the less I'm glad they included it in the collection. And btw, it is called IF YOU SEEK AMY... not Seeking Amy... It gets on my nerves when one particular radio station calls it that.



-Radar - Ok this song is great. It actually comes off of Britney's BLACKOUT album. But she sings so beautifully in it, she really does. Ok beautifully may not be the best word but she put forth I think the best effort shes ever done in singing with this song... she really shines in it. And I think thats why she, or whoever, put it in this collection was so that it would have 1 last chance... because again it was released on Blackout, which didnt get the attention it deserved. Next it moves to Circus as a bonus track. But the above 3 songs get primary attention prior to this singles collaboration. For whatever reason its here, I'm personally happy that it is... but in the end I'd trade it for Break the Ice & Overprotected & Outrageous (thats a 3 for 1 swap... if it was 2 for 1 or 1 for 1 I wouldn't do it... this song really is that good)"