Notice how strong the melodies are on the old tracks? And then how hollow the newer material is? I'm sure newer Carey fans would have the exact opposite reaction, but I stand by my verdict: Carey traded her artistic soul (literally) around 1994 for record sales, an increasingly fleshy image, poorer and poorer taste in album jackets (both this and Rainbow), and overall blandness that somehow still managed to sell records.

The new tracks on this collection are simply awful, falling either into the category of completely faceless ("Sweetheart" and "I Still Believe") or downright terrible. The latter refers to the Whitney Houston duet, "When You Believe", from Prince of Egypt. A duel of the divas meant that any semblance of respect for the song or musical harmony is hurled out the window in favour of ego-clashing, pure-cheese arrangements, and overwrought vocals that skewer the childish, unremarkable lyrics and make them even more unbearable than if sung by less robust singers who can't show off technically. This song is the best example of why neither Houston nor Carey is a true soul singer; they always take a blowtorch to the song and the melodies, never using their instruments to enrich the song as written, but rather carving up the song and leaving it to die with broad strokes of their blade-like voices.

And the hits? Well, these *are* the #1 hits of her career and are somewhat useful for somebody who wasn't around in 1990 to observe Carey's career path. It's good to hear the older hits like "Vision of Love", "Hero", "I Don't Wanna Cry" and "Love Takes Time" -- the young Carey delivering the hooks like a pro, sounding nothing like the calculating, uninvolving, bombastic diva that took the podium since 1994. I can't help but think that with better musical partnership, Carey can perhaps break out of this rut she's been in for over half a decade and make an artistic statement that can go beyond #1 hits, album sales, and sexy packaging and image. After all, "Vision of Love" can be taken as a 19-year-old's exuberant first step, but can Carey be proud of lyrical and songwriting juvenilia like "Honey", "Fantasy", "Always Be My Baby" or "Dreamlover" ten years from now?

What can I say about this album, except that its a pity Mariah's had so many #1 hits, and less than half of them were her best songs. Maybe if she had 10 number ones instead of 13, she would have included some of her best songs like Can't Let Go, which wasn't included because see, it only went to #2, and Sony made such a big deal about it. For holding so many records in music and having the most #1 hits of any female artist, Mariah does not have much diversity in her songs, aside from bland hip-hop attempts, and the fact that few of her ballads are truly convincing of the emotion she is trying to convey isn't that good for her either. The good thing about the album is that it includes some of Mariah's simplest yet most memorable songs like Vision of Love, I dont Wanna Cry (on which she thankfully doesn't take any of her famous high notes), I'll Be There, Hero, Always Be My Baby, One Sweet Day, and possibly My All. Everything else here, especially anything with a hip-hop feel (Fantasy, Honey) is overproduced and needless. There are also too many duets, but of the new songs that Mariah included only I Still Believe and the revised Whenever You Call are really good. Also this album doesn't flow like it should. Mariah should have started out with Vision of Love and her other early songs, instead of putting them all the way at the end.

There is a reason these songs went to number one. That reason is that they are absolutely incredible! ALways Be My Baby is truly classic, Hero is absolutley inspirational, One Sweet Day is heartwrentching. Honey is a great dance tune and Dreamlover is awesome. Believe it or not, despite her fame, I only recently discovered Mariah Carey. Her Rainbow album was coming out and Bought it because of Heartbreaker. Around that time, The radio stations started playing old Mariah Carey songs. I half-listened to them and went to buy #1's, which I figured were her only good songs. I bought it, fell in love with it and now I have all of Mariah Carey's albums. She really is a talented artist and this CD more than proves it.

SWEETHEART (W/ JD) 5/10 - just average...didn't do much for me. 1998

WHEN YOU BELIEVE (W/ Whitney Houston) 7/10 - pretty good song, but the outstanding voices were better. 1998

WHENEVER YOU CALL (W/ Brian McKnight) 7/10 - Again...two great voices, and a great song. 1998

MY ALL 8/10 - This is a good song...but it gets kind of annoying after listening to it more than twice. 1998

HONEY 8/10 - The music is better than the lyrics, but she has a great voice. (The video was terrible) 1997

ALWAYS BE MY BABY 9/10 - Great song. Hip and and amazing tune. 1995

ONE SWEET DAY (w/ Boyz II Men) 9/10 - In some way, I can see why this song still has the record for #1 on the single charts. Boyz II Men sounds better than Mariah, but the song is great. 1995

FANTASY (w/ ODB) 8/10 - I love Mariah's solos, but ODB isn't very good. Sure it was a pretty good song, but Mariah was better. I'm glad that she got more singing time than he did. 1995

HERO 10/10 - One of my absolute favorites of hers. I heard it for the fist time shortly after it came out and I didn't think much of it...but after I heard it on the radio a few months back, I thought it was awesome. Mariah is one of the best. 1993

DREAMLOVER 9/10 - Great. The video is a little off...but she brought it home with this song. It was also a good intro for her '93 album, "Music Box." 1993

I'LL BE THERE (w/ Trey Lorenz) 9/10 - Where did this guy come from? Lorenz is an incredible vocalist. He and Mariah make a good team. And their voices just mesh together. 1992

EMOTIONS song:9/10 vocals:10/10 - WOWZA! Where on earth does that high pitched sound come from? It is incredible! She gives her lowest low and her highest high. WHAT A RANGE! 1991

I DON'T WANNA CRY 9/10 - This was one of her first songs on her fist album and it gives be chills every time I hear it. I solute. 1990

SOMEDAY 10/10 - Not much to say...from the first note to the very last, Mariah delivered it incredibly (as always)!!! 1990

LOVE TAKES TIME 9/10 - GREAT! Great! great! 1990

VISION OF LOVE 9/10 - WOW! Wow! wow! 1990

I STILL BELIEVE 6/10 - Average. Not her best. Could hardly listen to it again. 1998


keep an eye out for Mariah's CD's they are all awesome!

1990 Mariah Carey
1991 Emotions
1992 MTV Unplugged
1993 Music Box
1995 Daydream
1997 Butterfly
1998 #1's
1999 Rainbow
2002 Charmbracelet


-Mariah Carey is probably one of the best female vocalists of the century. Others include: Whitney Houston, Celine Dion, Aretha Franklin, Tina Turner, Cher, Patti LaBelle etc...

There used to be a time when I bought Mariah Carey albums on the release date. When this album came out, I did it again. This album doesn't leave me much impression - many songs are lackluster and I simply don't care for, and the ones I do care for, they are familiar already. At least this album is great for early '90s nostalgia (nobody can top Mariah in this department), but it also showcases her career in decline. Especially "When You Believe" - it sounds like a desperate attempt by two outgoing divas to counter the current reigning diva, Celine Dion, without much success.

And thanks to so many sugary songs with little substance, I don't find this album to be so appealing for repeat plays in a short amount of time (i.e. long road trip in a car with a single CD player, where you don't want to stop just to change CD's). I can play Sarah McLachlan's Mirrorball and most Elton John collections over and over without getting sick of them, but with this album, I don't find that quality.