Date: 1 December 2001
Originally published in: Record Collector (UK)
Written by: Tim Jones
Not to be confused with the 1983 French-originated collection of the same name, this 18-song run through the back catalogue of the biggest-selling British female of the 80s reminds you just how savvy was Ms Smith prior to knocking out Tommy in the West End.
As well as pop classics like ‘Chequered Love’ and ‘Water On Glass’ (from her eponymous debut), it’s nice to see that the under-rated and understatedly menacing ‘Child Come Away’ has been retained from RAK days. The rockabilly edge of ‘Rage To Love’ still sounds rather incognious next to the slick cover of ‘You Keep Me Hangin’ On’, but ‘You Came’ and ‘Never Trust A Stranger’ are as beefy as ever, and ‘If I Can’t Have You’ romps along nicely.
Unfortunately, there’s no place for ‘Bitter Is Better’ or any album-only cuts, but other attractions are inventive millennial remixes of ‘View From A Bridge’ and ‘Kids in America’, and the classy Kylie-esque new dancer, ‘Loved’, proving that there’s plenty left in the Wilde tank if the gardening career withers on the vine.