My Love-Ultimate Essential Collection
Two CD set. 2 CD set with 26 songs includes all 17 songs from single disc. Not on original 'All The Way...:', '(You Make Me Feel Like A) Natural Woman', 'The Prayer', (duet with Andrea Bocelli), 'Tell Him' (duet with Barbra Streisand), 'I Knew I Loved You', 'Dance With My Father', 'Pour Que Tu M'aimes Encore(taken from D'eux, the biggest selling non-English album in history).
2008-11-19 -- 4/5:: Very cool...but just misses the "ultimate" mark with a few omissions of awesome songs not found on this collection
Celine Dion is a music artist that has had music that has been part of my life. May it be a song that would be a song dedicated at a certain time of my relationship or a friend's relationship to a song that just touched you (or annoyed you).
Celine Dion was like "Boyz II Men" in terms of songs that people listened to if they were in love or just broken up with someone. So, I'm sure there are a large number of people who will definitely have a strong sense of nostalgia when they here a lot of the songs featured on this album.
But when I first hear Celine Dion's voice (this was a time before was singing in English), I was in love with her voice and to see her grow in popularity in the 1990's and have hit after hit, I was definitely proud of her accomplishments.
So, here we are with a new compilation album featuring many of her hit songs throughout the years and for those who have not owned a Celine Dion album, then you can definitely have the majority of her hits through the album "My Love: Essential Collection" which features a total of 17 tracks and for those who do own a lot of her music, they can get the "My Love: Ultimate Essential Collection" which features unreleased songs.
From the classic hits such as "Where Does My Heart Beat Now", "Beauty and the Beast", "If You Ask Me To", "Because You Loved Me", "The Power of My Love", "My Heart Will Go On", "To Love You More" and many other countless hits. But also some surprises such as the live version of "Taking Chances" and "My Love" and many more other songs that were unreleased and not familiar with but I was a bit surprised that there were songs such as "misled" and "Nothing Broken But My Heart" but also my favorite songs "Colour of My Love" and "When I Fall In Love". So, for me... and that is for me, I can't call this an ultimate essential collection but it is a pretty cool compilation album nonetheless.
I will have to say that it's not exactly an "Ultimate Essential Collection" for me because there are two Celine Dion songs that are my favorites not featured on this album and that is "Colour of my Love" and the "Sleepless in Seattle" ballad "When I Fall in Love" featuring Celine and Clive Griffin. Without these two incredible songs included, it's hard to call this compilation an "Ultimate Essential Collection".
But perhaps that is me being a bit picky on the tracklist because there are a lot of awesome tracks on this compilation but missing a few that would be truly an ultimate essential collection of Celine Dion's hits.
But nevertheless, there are many songs that I are simply nostalgic. I'm probably one of the few who was not sicken by the overplaying of the "Titanic" ballad "Where My Heart Goes On".
Also, with a song "To Love You More" which opened me up to the music of Kryzler and Company and had me searching for the Japanese soundtrack of "Koibito yo" for the different versions of this cool song.
And who can not listen to "Because You Loved Me" and not think of that person you broke up with. There are just so many of those nostalgic songs from the past that I'm glad to see included on this compilation.
So, if you have not owned a Celine Dion album but are looking to have one to own, then definitely check out "My Love: Essential Collection" or "My Love: Ultimate Essential Collection".
2008-11-13 -- 5/5:: Must have as Celine Fan
Another new collection CD from Celine, let me start from the beginning, the cover is amazing Celine looks pretty on the CD. the CD comes wiht 26 Songs (13 on each CD) and unwritten Song which make them 27 (My love original song). My Love lived version is amazing can't wait to see the tour DVD. there comes a time, is one the best new songs, I wounder why she didn't release it with Taking Chances. If you love Celine, you love this collection A+
2008-11-08 -- 5/5:: The Power of Celine
Celine Dion's compilation album, My Love: Ultimate Essential Collection includes a wonderful array of Celine's staple hits as well as some more obscure songs that the general public has not heard nearly as much as her big ballads.
The songs included are well balanced with singles like " The Power of Love", "Because You Loved Me" (Theme from Up Close and Personal), "It's All Coming Back To Me Now" and "My Heart Will Go On" (Love theme from Titanic). These famous singles are well intertwined with lesser known songs such as "The Power of the Dream", which she sang at the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games and "Tell Him" which was a duet with the legendary Barbra Streisand.
If you enjoy the classic Dion singles of the 90's as well as the newer and lesser known songs, then My Love: Ultimate Essential Collection is a wonderful inclusion to your music collection. Celine has, yet again created another wonderful album.
2008-11-06 -- 3/5:: Not Quite Essential : Another Tired 'Greatest Hits' bites the Dust
Every Celine Dion has at least a few good tracks, and her last one, "Taking Chances", was in my opinion her best album (barring some excellent French-language albums that remain unknown within the US). Take it from me, I was never a fan of Dion, as I find her weird body language and rather unflattering physical presence a complete turnoff, not to mention her quirky cabaret-meets-vaudeville personality that is entirely irritating. Still, I can appreciate a good song when I hear it, and we have to hand it to the woman - she does have some pretty good songs in her catalog.
Strangely, some of Dion's best songs came early in her career, before she really gained fame and won those Grammys. The first disc on this set represents that era, and song for song, you have some pretty good songs any which way you cut it. My personal favorite is "Love can Move Mountains" (try tracking down its' cheesy video), and Disney classic "Beauty and the Beast" sounds just as dated as it did all those years ago.
However, the least interesting tracks make it to Disc Two. The horrendous `Titanic' love ballad opens the disc (and also therefore kills the disc), and her absolutely great track "A New Day has Come" is the only saving grace on this disc. Totally you get 26 songs on this 2-Disc compilation, and it focuses primarily on her English language recordings (though there is one French song as well).
So should you get this? Well, its not any better than her 9 year old Greatest Hits Compilation, and only the last few tracks on Disc Two add something new. But if you have her albums from this decade, you're not missing anything really. It is my opinion that this album is meant for the `newbie' or someone who is just getting into Celine Dion's vast musical output. As a crash course, it works just fine - all the big hits are here. Some of her more vital tracks, however, such as "Immortality", are left out, which is unforgivable on a 2-Disc Set. Get this only if you don't have most of her studio albums - otherwise, it remains just another sorry marketing gimmick.
Three Stars.
2008-11-04 -- 5/5:: Almost Ultimate
An improvement over "All The Way", this collection of Celine's hits gets it right for the most part. There are of course, some notable exceptions ("Nothing Broken But My Heart" [A bigger hit than a lot of what's on this set!], "Misled", "If There Was Any Other Way" and most inexplicable of all, "When I Fall In Love." Really? Not essential enough for ya, Celine?) However, the inclusion of "Where Does My Heart Beat Now" is a big plus, as is "Tell Him", her duet with Barbra Streisand.
As for "rarities" we get "The Power Of The Dream" from the '96 Olympics, "You Make Me Feel (A Natural Woman)" from the international version of "Falling Into You" and the "Tapestry Revisited" album, as well as a song from one of her French language albums and two songs from tribute albums to Luther Vandross and Ennio Morricone. The two "new" songs consist of a live version of "My Love" from the Taking Chances album (which doesn't sound much different from the album version) and a forgettable song entitled "There Comes A Time).
So, in total, this is a good collection that could have been great, but until the next retrospective comes along, and you know it will, this will do just fine.
Note: "It's All Coming Back To Me Now" is NOT the single version, but the full seven-and-a-half minute album version. The studio version of "My Love" is included as a hidden track at the end of disc two.