This is a great collection by one of England's best singers. Alison's reading of "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face" may presage her beautiful "Voice" CD released in the UK last year. "Only You" and "Love Resurrection" may sounded dated to my teenager, but they both pulse with great energy and sound as great to me as they did when they pumped out on the dancefloor in the 80s. Previously unreleased in the US before this 1995 set, "That Ole Devil Called Love" was a song Billie Holiday nailed. Alison plays with the melody and shows a great affinity for this era of song. "Weak In the Presence of Beauty" is also a classic track with Alison's fully committed vocals and great percussion. Tackling a tune that was a major hit for Elvis Presley and has been recorded by Nat King Cole, Bobby Darin, Peggy Lee & Dinah Washington and then making it sound fresh is a major feat that Moyet accomplishes on her sterling version of "Love Letters." "This House" is a somber dramatic track that Moyet builds into a tragedy of a broken love affair. "Whispering Your Name" is a delightful synth track from the underrated "Essex" CD. "Singles" is a blockbuster set that love resurrects some excellent performances from one of our best singers. Bravo!

Moyet has one of the best voices of recent years; anyone, not just her loyal fans, can easily see and admit this. The singles captures her voice in full-flower, but occasional weak material make it impossible to give this collection 5 stars.

There are, however, gems all over the place. "Whispering Your Name" has to be, lyrically, the best dance song I have ever heard. "That Ole Devil Called Love" carries her voice into straight-out torch jazz. The Yaz songs are very good (although I might have replaced "Winter Kills" with "Mr. Blue" or "Don't Go") and her redo of old Yaz song "Ode to Boy" is as great in its way as the original. Other strong songs dot the album, especially in the first half ("Ordinary Girl," "Is This Love?" "Love Resurrection," are the best of the rest).

However, the songs from the album 'Hoodoo' are much weaker. "This House" has passionate vocals, but the others don't work at all. "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face" didn't need to be remade, and it sounds rather strange here. With the exception of "That Ole Devil..." the other previously unavailable or unreleased songs aren't particularly interesting.

Still, this is a great representation of Moyet's style, songs, and voice, and is probably easier to acquire than finding all the original albums.

a collection of beautiful, stirring songs that move your soul and inspire. I like the variety of the musical instruments used to back this incredible voice. We see her deftly segue between synths and guitars, violins and drums. Alison Moyet's voice is the voice of your dreams. It is there to provide comfort and bring joy.

The deep, brooding tones can transform in an instant to glorious heights and elegant melodies transmogrify into real grooving dance numbers.

A voice as versatile, as haunting, and as lovely as Alison's is a real treasure that has soothed us through decades of life.

She is one of the great irresistible forces in the world of music.

She's great!

I am a big fan of this collection of Alison Moyet's best recordings. It was released in about 1995 and sold well in the UK, where she was a major pop star in the mid-80's. She started in the synthesizer-pop era of 1982 with the duo Yazoo along with Vince Clarke, and has a top hit with the lovely tune Only You. Yazoo's two albums in 1982-83 also yielded hits with Don't Go (unfortunately not included here), and Nobody's Diary.

Her best stuff though was from her first two solo career albums Alf (1984) and Raindancing (1986) that marked her commercial peak. I liked her strong vocals on Love Resurrection (a hit in August 1984) and the mainstream pop of Invisible (a US Top 40 hit in March 1985), while also in 1985 she showed what a good voice she has when she crooned the delightful old romantic smoothie That Old Devil Called Love. Also good was her version of the tuneful song Weak In The Presence Of Beauty (1987), originally done by Floy Joy, and the enjoyable up-tempo pop of Ordinary Girl.

Her later stuff was also pretty good, and I like the songs Solid Wood , and the minor-key lament This House. Alison Moyet remains one of the best popular vocalists, and her powerful-yet-sultry voice is highly distinctive. I hope she keeps recording in the future.

4 stars from me.

In an industry where looks and image often seem to be more important than talent, it is refreshing to know that - just occasionally - somebody comes along with such a great voice that such considerations are set aside. So it was in the eighties that Alison Moyet, a woman with a strong, bluesy voice had a string of hits despite her unflattering looks.

Alison was originally part of the duo Yazoo. Some Yazoo tracks are included here, but by far the best is Only you. This song is not to be confused with the fifties classic originally recorded by the Platters and often covered down the years, but it is equally brilliant. In Britain, it provided Yazoo with a number two hit and was covered by the Flying Pickets, an a capella group that took it to number one a year or two later.

Alison wrote many of her own songs, either alone or with others, but she recorded great covers. The first time ever I saw your face is a song Ewan MacColl, father of Kirsty, wrote about Peggy Seeger, who later became his wife - but most people remember it from Roberta Flack's hit version. Love letters dates from the 1940's, when Dick Haymes wrote and recorded it, but it was revived in the sixties, first by Ketty Lester and then by Elvis, both of whom had massive hits with it. Alison had a British top ten hit with her cover. But the best cover of all is her revival of That ole devil called love, a Billie Holiday classic that gave her a British number two hit.

Of her own songs, my favorites are Nobody's diary, All cried out, Is this love and Wishing you were here, but many of the others are not far behind.

Alison still records occasionally, but this is a fine collection of her most successful years.