Recorded 1984–March 2000 Artist Whitney Houston Label Arista Records | Whitney The Greatest Hits
(2000) Love, Whitney
(2001) Release date 16 May 2000 | |
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Released May 16, 2000 (2000-05-16) Producer Clive Davis
Whitney Houston Genres Pop music, Soul music, Contemporary R&B, Rhythm and blues, House music Nominations Echo Award for Best International Rock/Pop Female Artist Similar Whitney Houston albums, Soul music albums | ||
Whitney: The Greatest Hits is a compilation album by American singer Whitney Houston, released in May 2000. The set consists of disc one with ballads and disc two with uptempo numbers and remixes. Houston's performance of "The Star-Spangled Banner" at Super Bowl XXV, and 1988 Olympics tribute "One Moment in Time" are also included in the set. The collection includes four new songs—"Could I Have This Kiss Forever", duet with Enrique Iglesias, "If I Told You That", duet with George Michael, "Same Script, Different Cast", duet with Deborah Cox and "Fine"—all of which were released as singles. It also includes three other songs that had never appeared on a Houston album: "One Moment in Time", "The Star Spangled Banner", and "If You Say My Eyes Are Beautiful", a duet with Jermaine Jackson from his 1986 Precious Moments album. Along with the album, an accompanying VHS and DVD was released featuring the music videos to Houston's greatest hits, as well as several hard-to-find live performances including her 1983 debut on The Merv Griffin Show, and interviews.
Contents
Upon its release Whitney: The Greatest Hits was a commercial success, but it received mixed reviews from music critics. Many complained about the inclusion of remixes on disc two, instead of their original versions. It peaked within top ten in most European countries, United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, and received numerous platinum and multiplatinum awards.The IFPI also certified it three times platinum in 2000 for sales exceeding 3 million copies in Europe.
After Houston's passing in February 2012, it saw resurgence in sales and re-entered album charts in many countries in Europe and in North America. In the United States, it reached a new peak of number two on the Billboard 200. In July 2012, it was certified five times platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America for sales exceeding 5.2 million in the United States. Worldwide the album has sold an estimated 18 million copies to date.
In the United States, copies sold at Circuit City stores included a third disc containing new club remixes. Whitney: The Unreleased Mixes is a limited-edition four-record vinyl set, containing eight full club versions of selected remixes found on the American release. In June 2006, it was released digitally and re-titled Dance Vault Mixes: Whitney Houston – The Unreleased Mixes (Collector's Edition). In January 2011, the album was re-issued in Europe, Canada, Australia and New Zealand with the international track listing, but the set was re-titled as The Essential Whitney Houston, as part of Sony Legacy's The Essential series. In addition to the title change, the re-release also features different artwork. The cover picture of the original release was taken by David LaChapelle.
Promotional concerts
Following the release of her Greatest Hits album, Houston promoted it by performing three sold-out shows at Caesars in Atlantic City from June 30 to July 3, 2000. She performed an additional date during the fall on November 10, at the Aladdin Theater in Las Vegas, with husband at that time, Bobby Brown opening the show. Brown performed a few of his hit songs, both performers closed the show singing their hit duet, "Something in Common".
Critical reception
Upon its release, Whitney: The Greatest Hits received generally mixed reviews from music critics. CANOE reviewer Jane Stevenson felt that it is "a greatest hits package that makes good listening sense." Steve Huey from AllMusic showed his dissatisfaction with Arista's choice for the accompanying second disc included their remix instead of the original version, stating "the Greatest Hits disc amply reinforces once again what a fine singles artist Houston has been for the entirety of her career. Still and all, though, it's a frustrating package marred by record company greed." Unlike Huey, Jim Farber of New York Daily News rated the second disc more highly than the first which "recycles Houston's boring old ballads." He commented: "In her dance mixes, she exudes an erotic dynamism that no one else has the lung power to match. This album['s second disc] isn't just an ecstatic piece of party music ― it utterly redefines Houston as an artist." Newsweek's Allison Samuels wrote "No one of her generation sings with more character and conviction," giving the album four stars out of five. Ken Tucker from Entertainment Weekly commented harshly on the album: "To listen to the two discs is to hear the sound of a gift being squandered," advising her "Continually pursuing mega record sales at the expense of invention, Houston needs to exhale — to loosen up and put more shoop-shoop R&B into her creative life." A reviewer from The Guardian commented that "[disc two] is eminently more listenable. The likes of I Will Always Love You and Greatest Love of All weren't just a waste of one of the potentially great soul voices; they opened the door for Celine Dion. But Houston remembers her gospel and R&B roots often enough to counterbalance the slush with rootsier offerings like I'm Your Baby Tonight and It's Not Right But It's Okay. New duets with George Michael and (especially titanically) Enrique Iglesias complete a couple of hours of diva-style fun." Steve Jones form USA Today rated the album four stars out of four, commenting that "Whitney: The Greatest Hits [...] puts its subject in context by smartly arranging the material so it's easy to follow Whitney Houston's 15 year progression from ingenue to mature singer. [...] The set does its job well, encapsulating a career that's still a work in progress." Billboard called it "quite [a] stellar collection", adding that "timing couldn't be better for this [...] career retrospective." In contrast, according to NME "[t]he timing couldn't be worse. Issuing a double CD of Whitney Houston's finest moments was intended to shore up her rapidly eroding soul diva supremacy against the rising tide of clued-up, modern successors to her throne – Missy Elliott, Lauren Hill, Kelis." It rated the collection, however, five stars out of five. LA Weekly reviewed the collection negatively, stating that "it's damn near unlistenable. The first of the two discs is the Cool Down side, i.e., the ballads. One track slides too smoothly into the next, with Whitney's voice — so strong, so assured, so boring — anchoring saccharine production and even sappier songwriting. [...] The 'Throw Down' disc is filled with astonishingly bad dance remixes of old hits[.]" According to Ebony, "Whitney: The Greatest Hits reminds listeners of the enormous talent this artist demonstrated on "You Give Good Love" 15 years ago, how she has grown, and the fact she has a long career road ahead." Sonia Murray from Atlanta Journal and Constitution graded the album B+, commenting that "What makes Whitney Houston's first collection of hits great is her. Not the songs. [...] On the first CD there's her masterfully manipulated big pop confections ("I Will Always Love You"), the occasional, really soulful R&B tunes ("Saving All My Love for You") and new radio-ready duets with Whitney-in-training Deborah Cox and Latin smolderer Enrique Iglesias. The second CD of dance remixes is an appropriate nod to an artist who has held sway over so many genres. But without a gospel single from "The Preacher's Wife" soundtrack --- some of her most emotive work --- this isn't Whitney at her best." AllMusic reviewer Stephen Thomas Erlewine felt that "The Essential Whitney Houston plays much like The Greatest Hits; even if it has a handful of songs not on the 2000 collection, it covers the same territory equally well and equally entertainingly." The Orlando Sentinel wrote that the "double album contains almost all of her hit singles from the past 15 years".
Commercial performance
In February 2012, following Houston's death, the album re-entered the Billboard 200 at number 6 with 64,000 copies sold. It sold 886,000 copies in 2012; all but 2,500 were sold after her death. The album had previously sold 1,738,000 copies prior to 2012.
In Canada, the album jumped up to number 3 with 7,800 copies sold. On February 29, Houston became the first woman to place three albums in the top 10 of the Billboard 200 chart at the same time (Whitney: the Greatest Hits at #2, The Bodyguard at #6 and Whitney Houston at #9). On March 7, 2012, Houston set two Billboard chart records; she became the second female artist after Adele to place two albums in the top five of the Billboard 200 with Whitney: The Greatest Hits at #2 and The Bodyguard at #5, and the first female to place nine albums within the top 100(with Whitney: The Greatest Hits at #2, The Bodyguard at #5, Whitney Houston at #10, I Look to You at #13, Triple Feature at #21, My Love Is Your Love at #31, I'm Your Baby Tonight at #32, Just Whitney at #50 and The Preacher's Wife at #80).
According to the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI), Whitney: The Greatest Hits was the 32nd global best-selling album of 2012 with sales of one million copies.
Personnel
Adapted from AllMusic.
Songs
1Saving All My Love for You3:58
2Greatest Love of All4:51
3One Moment in Time4:46