Greatest Hits - Shania Twain

Shania Twain has been one of my favourite artists for a long while so you may have to forgive me for being slightly biased towards the music...

Genre: Country
Price: £12.99
Location: Any CD selling retailer should stock it.
Label: Mercury Nashville
Released: 09/11/04
Total tracks: 21
Total time: 1:17:07
Website: www.ShaniaTwain.com or www.mercurynashville.com

Albums music:
...song in a love ballad/country style. Shania's voice suits this song perfectly, the song had enough backing to match her voice; this was mainly drums throughout the piece but the accompaniment never drowned her out or sounded too special effecty...The lyrics are beautiful and easy to sing along too, a soft song for when you are in a romantic mood.

2. I'm gonna getcha good!:
The lyrics to this one are very similar to the last ... more

Shania Twain has been one of my favourite artists for a long while so you may have to forgive me for being slightly biased towards the music...

Genre: Country
Price: £12.99
Location: Any CD selling retailer should stock it.
Label: Mercury Nashville
Released: 09/11/04
Total tracks: 21
Total time: 1:17:07
Website: www.ShaniaTwain.com or www.mercurynashville.com

Albums music:
1. Forever and for always:
A lovely song in a love ballad/country style. Shania's voice suits this song perfectly, the song had enough backing to match her voice; this was mainly drums throughout the piece but the accompaniment never drowned her out or sounded too special effecty...The lyrics are beautiful and easy to sing along too, a soft song for when you are in a romantic mood.

2. I'm gonna getcha good!:
The lyrics to this one are very similar to the last ones - I'm going to get you, and never let you go sort of thing, but the music is completely different. It's far more of a rock style than love or country, again the main accompaniment are drums but because of the different syle it has a completely different feel...There is also a lot more of Shania's voice unsupported by the accompaniment which goes nicely in this song. A nice contrast to the last song and again a nice one to sing along to.

3. Up:
It took me a while to get used to this one, it was possibly one of my least favourites on the whole CD to begin with. But it did grow on me. This is more of a blues feel in the verse moving to pop in the chorus, but the lyrics aren't a conventional blues at any point. It's pop lyrics fittied into a blues tune and it does actually work very well. You have far more accompaniment to this song, although Shania has several more chances to show off a wonderful voice unsupported. This may sound like a strange song at first as it takes a while for our brains to put together the two styles of music, but once that has been done it's another great song to sing and dance to.

4. Ka-Ching!:
It was the lyrics that I really liked in this song, particulary at this sort of time near Christmas you start to think how much people spend on material goods and material things...what we need to think about is how much happiness this can bring. At the beginning of the song this had an almost 'Pink' style to it, and this was followed in each verse following which then moved into a more country style in the chorus...the two styles mixed well and both suited her voice. This is more of a song to listen to and dance to as it's not so easy to sing to...

5. Come on over:
Very country style and we she revells in it, this really is the sort of music that her voice is best suited for...guitar, piano and drum accompaniment and her voice blends so well. It's nice how she keeps changing the key of the music back and forth, it adds intrest to the piece as a whole. The lyrics hold some advice that we could probably all hold by - Be happy who you are, just be yourself. Easy to dance to, easy to sing to - another star of a song.

6. Man! I feel like a woman!:
I've always thought that these words are very strange for a female voice to sing, but agin Shania seems to make this work. By lowering her voice, she can't sound like a man but she darn well makes her voice suit the music and go well with the lyrics. This is one of those songs that nearly everyone could hum or sing along to - it's one of her most famous...Again a good beat to dance to and easy to sing along to...

7. That don't impress me much:
Another very famous song of hers, a tune that again almost everyone would recognise. The words are amusing, the tune easy to dance and sing to...it's not one of my personal favourites but still darn enjoyable. It's one of the woman songs really isn't it? Stereotyping me and taking the mickey, but not in a cruel way and we love it don't we ladies!!!

8. From this moment on:
Country style right from the word go, and again Shania revells in it...very soft song, another love based one. But Shania's voice is perfectly suited to this...it will never cease to amaze me how she sings both slow easy song and also those far harsher songs and song brilliant each time...But again another song you can sing too...a little to slow to dance to unless you're doing a slow dance. Not one of my favourites, but enjoyable.

9. Honey I'm home:
Now this is one of my favourites, the lyrics are funny the country style works amazingly well...the chorus in particular sounds like something out of a farming advert - and as if a male should be singing 'Honey I'm home' not a female - but her voice is superb and we get carried away. Back to the lyrics, again a feminist approach to life, funny to listen to, easy to sing to and above all another mickey take of the male race!!!

10. You're still the one:
Another of my utter favourites...I love this one, country style love song. Sweet words and Shania's voice reaches straight to your soul. I guess the reason I love this one is it was played on mine and my ex's 2 year anninversery and it always reminds me of a very special day...but anyhow you didn't really want to know that so back to the song. Easy to sing along to, you can dance to it, and all in all it's just a lovely song, no complaints made on this one.

11. Don't be stupid:
I like the way the publishers has juxtaposed the very slow, sweet songs against the more boisterous songs like this one. It works amazingly well. Again right from the start it has a massive country feel to it - to the stage of you imagining line dancing to the music!!! It's the way Shania has got very pop lyrics fitted in perfectly to this country tune and accompaniment, and does it so well. The lyrics are the kind that you find in some of the modern pop songs, but because of the country background and her strong voice the words don't sound as shallow as they do in the modern artist's work. I particulary like the violins solos in this it adds a great atmosphere to this piece, you can sing, dance and do whatever.

12. Love gets me every time:
Again a country style, in a way it being so close to two other songs of a similar tuning etc makes it sound a bit sameish really, it doesn't matter that much but it could have been planned better. Not much to be said about this one - it's too similar, you can dance to it, sing to it and the beat is great...but it doesn't really show of Shania's voice. Not a favourite at all.

13. No one needs to know:
Yes, another country, but this is the style that Shania revells in. And it's a song with a completely different key and tune to the last one so it fits really well. A tune you could well imagine a farmer singing, it's that countryish!!! The lyrics are interesting to this one, if slightly muffled - it's not the sort of thing most people sing about. Love is generally sung about as an amazing thing between two people, not as one person keeping it secret but wanting marriage and children by this man....it's unusual. I like it, I can sing and dance to it as well which is always a plus.

14. You win my love
Again not one of my favourites, personally I think there is very little tune particulary in the verse and although the beat is good, but a good beat does not make a piece of music alone. I also thought that her voice isn't so good on this one, it just doesn't seem to suit the music type - A bad choice of the behalf of her agent if you ask me...

15. (If you're not in it for love) I'm outta here:
This ones interesting as well - a country style but with far more unsupported voice than is usual for this kind of song...I personally think it's a little slow and untunish particulary at the beginning - but that's just me. This one just doesn't really catch my attention - it's not bad but it's also not good, it's just...inoffensive I guess.

16. The woman in me (need the man in you)
Sweet, slow song again, and not a moment to soon after those last songs...This one is again too slow though (Hang on, is is just me or do tracks on almost all CDs get worse as you get nearer the end - it's as if they are thinking that you're not gonna get that far!!!) This is another just boring one really, not bad, not good - you could easily have it in the background as you talk or play Ma-jong, but that's all it is really a background song.

17. Any man of mine
Ring from the start this one sounds better, a great beat, complete country and her voice back at top from. Again the lyrics are almost pop song but the tune is complete old school and great for it, again an unusual mix, but works amazingly well! The lyrics are just funny, another take the mickey out of the male species and it's just so funny to hear her do it in a song form that traditionally males sing. A great beat, easy to sing to an GO ON DANCE, comes to mind.

18. Whose bed have your boots been under?
Old school tune, old school lyrics, and the way Shania does it you can almost imagine being in a smoky pub whilst she's singing this to the male regulars. Completely un politically correct but who cares. Her voice suits this song entirely and the beat is a cracker to dance to...I am getting worried though about me having the same music taste as my father....Anyhow, great song...we seem to be coming back up to standard here - this is where we say famous last words when the next one turns out awful...

19. Party for two
This is different, she has got it so you have a comment and a rsponse from Mark McGrath so it's a joint song in a highly original format. It really does sound like a party song, large beat, great tune. My only complaint on this would be special effects have been used and Shania's voice sounds almost metallic...I think she sounds great without Special Effects and they just make the song sound too comercialised.

20. Don't
Another lovely sweet song, that looks back on the past and then thinks to the future...A song that suits Shania's voice, she's got the sort of broken voice down to a T without it sounding bad. You can really get involved in this one, her voice holds so many emotions at once it's unbelievable. You can sing along and without the Special effects Shania's voice is far better.

21. I ain't no quitter
A lovely fast country ditty to finish on, with a harsh sound to the music that just emphasises the point of the song...the words show two sides of the human nature, stubbenness and at the same time an amazing quality to keep loving something/one even when times get harsh. My only complaint about this song would be the Special effects in the middle - they kinda ruin the country style and it seems inconsistent. But overall, a fun song with a deeper meaning and another one to sing and dance too.

Booklet Style:
This may sound unimportant to some, but to me the accompanying booklet is almost as important as the CD itself. And so about this one, well as a definate plus it has the words to all the songs CLEARLY printed, unlike to many of the bookelets these days. Sorry, but it really does drive me mad when I don't have a booklet to sing along with.
The graphics throughout the booklet are very good really, small but inserted at every song, usually relating to the style of music used in that song. I found this very usful as it kept the booklet interesting without disturbing the lyrics...

Overall:
I can easily say that this is an amaing albumn and easily worth the £12.99, when you consider that there is 21 tracks and the CD lasts nearly 1h20m it kinda makes up for the few weak tracks...Another thing I can say about this CD is that it's made for all generations - my foster father likes it and he usually hates all my music...now that is saying.

My advice is: This is a great CD and well worth buying!!!

Thanks for reading.
Lissy 

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