In 1990, Madonna released one of the most successful greatest hits compilations in recording history. The Immaculate Collection sold tens of millions of copies, and was a fitting tribute to Madonna’s versatility and adapting style of the previous eleven years. Obviously impressed with the ability of compilation albums to sell by the bucket load, she released a second compilation in 1995. Something to Remember was not essentially a greatest hits album -–it was released as a compilation of Madonna’s favourite recorded ballads and that year was a favourite Valentine’s Day present for many couples.

A second greatest hits compilation was always inevitable at some juncture, but I was generally quite surprised when I read in the press that volume two was due for release in time for Christmas last year. With hindsight, it was a relatively logical time for release as, like the Immaculate Collection beforehand, it spanned eleven years of the pop superstar’s career. That aside, GHV2 is by no means volume two of the timeless Immaculate Collection – a soulless package of Madonna’s back catalogue, it failed to make the same impression on the charts, and was in fact one of Madonna’s least successful albums.

One of the problems with GHV2 is its lack of “x factor”. Nearly every track on the Immaculate Collection was an anthem of one sort or another, with an impressive array of number one singles included and remixes that gave some of the older tracks a fresh appeal. GHV2 has none of this appeal. It covers some of the most uninspired periods of Madonna’s musical career, and the whole album lacks any order or methodology, with a random track listing that bears no accurate relation to the chronology of the music. Even more disappointing is the lack of any new material – whereas the Immaculate Collection spawned the hit singles Justify My Love and Rescue Me, everything on GHV2 has been heard before.

The track listing is as follows:

1. Deeper and Deeper

Probably one of the stronger tracks from the Erotica album, Deeper and Deeper was a lively disco inspired track that enabled Madonna’s fans to remember that Madonna makes really good music to dance to. Deeper and Deeper lacks much of the aggression of the rest of the Erotica album, and is a worthy opener to this collection, even if it isn’t the oldest track here.

2. Erotica

An uncomfortable pastiche of styles that may have given Madonna a number one single, but is generally regarded as one of the least memorable chart toppers of her career. Attempting to be sexy (and failing miserably) Erotica formed part of the multi-million package that accompanied the book Sex – and like the book that went before, it has aged into an embarrassing reminder of a bad era for the material girl.

3. Human Nature

Fast forward to the Bedtime Stories album, and the record company obviously thought that chronologically this record sat more comfortably with Erotica than its fellow Stories. Homage to bondage, Human Nature was accompanied by one of the sexiest videos of Madonna’s career. Nonetheless, despite the volume of black lycra and kinky dance moves, the single was infinitely forgettable and plunged from the charts without a trace. Human Nature was much more suited to the clubs, with a whole host of remixes – as an album track here it fails miserably.

4. Secret

The first single from the Bedtime Stories album, Secret heralded a long awaited return to more serious music for Madonna and narrowly missed the number one slot. One of the strongest Nellee Hooper produced tracks, the single version works well as an album track – the Junior Vasquez club versions doing the business on the dance floors. A wonderfully mellow single, this is a worthy inclusion in the GHV2 portfolio.

5. Don't Cry for Me Argentina

The only single release from the Evita soundtrack that makes it onto GHV2, Argentina was a contender for the Christmas number one a few years ago, and proved to the world how versatile Madonna’s vocal talent could be. Within the Evita soundtrack, the song is a triumph – within this album it is out of sorts with its fellow tracks and should probably have been left out.

6. Bedtime Story

A favourite with the musical press, purely on the basis that the track was co-written by Bjork. Madonna performed the track at the Brit Awards, and caused outrage when she mimed right the way through. A rather bizarre song, by anyone’s measure, I hated this at the start, but after a while its haunting arrangement grew on me.

7. The Power of Goodbye

Fast forward to The Ray of Light album and next up it’s the beautiful ballad, The Power of Goodbye. Produced by William Orbit, the song is a powerful combination of ethereal styles and is one of my favourite songs on the album.

8. Beautiful Stranger

Taken from the Austin Powers movie, Beautiful Stranger was commercially one of the most successful Madonna records of the last decade, despite failing to make number one. Showing off William Orbit’s ability to be psychedelic, Beautiful Stranger is a bizarre combination or rock, disco and funk – and it’s very good indeed!

9. Frozen

Another strong single Frozen was a bit of a comeback for Madonna and hit the top of the charts in 1998. Not quite a ballad, there is something strangely wintry about the way in which this record is arranged – which kind of fits in with the title really! The closest thing to Breakbeat that Madonna ever managed, this is a stylish record and was a worthy number one single.

10. Take a Bow

A strange choice for the album, given that Take A Bow holds the record as the least successful single release of Madonna’s career, failing to dent the upper reaches of the Top 20. It’s actually a very good record – a gentle and sombre ballad, with rich vocals, I thought this was the best single from the Bedtime Stories album, but few people seemed to agree with me.

11. Ray of Light

One of my least favourite records of Madonna’s career, Ray of Light was another William Orbit track that did big things in the chart. It was accompanied by a psychedelic video that was later to be voted the best video of all time by MTV Europe viewers. Personally, I hate the vocal arrangement and the general noise and fervour of this record – but it was a massive hit, reaching number two in 1998.

12. Don't Tell Me

Fast forward again to the Music album, and Don’t Tell Me, which was the second release from the album. Don’t Tell Me was a strange record – not a ballad, and not really a pop song – I’ve never been keen on the record and it made a relatively gentle impression on the charts.

13. What It Feels Like for a Girl

Very much a plodder on the Music album, What It Feels Like was beefed up with a Paul Oakenfold remix and a Guy Ritchie video that guaranteed commercial success early on in 2001. The trance remixes are excellent, but the original version is quite dull and is located on the GHV2 album at a particularly uninspiring point.

14. Drowned World / Substitute for Love

A curiously double-barrelled song title that was a small hit in 1998. One of the most sombre, thoughtful tracks of Madonna’s career it was perhaps rather too inspired for mass appeal and barely reached the top ten upon release.

15. Music

GHV2 closes as powerfully as it opens with this Mirwais production that set the world on fire in 2000. Complete with an Ali G video and well in excess of 20 trendy remixes, this was a defining moment in Madonna’s recent career. A worthy number one, and a brilliant track.

GHV2 is a mixed bag of success and failure in equal doses and simply cannot touch The Immaculate Collection for musical brilliance. It’s not a particularly bad album, it just came at a time when there was no demand for this compilation, and ends up looking like a simple commercial venture. The track listing is not complete. In a similar fashion to The Immaculate Collection, some key elements are missing from GHV2, including the excellent cover of the Peggy Lee song “Fever” as well as the film tracks I’ll Remember and This Used To Be My Playground. The outstanding ballad You’ll See has been criminally ignored, but the biggest shock must be the absence of American Pie.

The album has a trendy design, with a sassy close up photo of Madonna on the front cover, and a montage of images from the last decade occupying the interior. The cd album is available with a limited edition hardback sleeve, but the most collectible item must surely be the picture promotional cd in a gatefold cardboard sleeve. I have seen this in record shops for around £60, but it regularly fetches in excess if £100 on eBay.

GHV2 is not an album that I am prepared to recommend. As an introduction to Madonna’s music, The Immaculate Collection would be a much more worthy purchase and to hardcore Madonna fans, GHV2 has nothing new. I would have preferred Madonna to wait a few more years, and notch up a couple more studio albums to choose from before she did volume 2 – what we have is, I’m afraid, fundamentally disappointing.

Not recommended