Which makes it a better CD. A greatest hits CD is not a greatest hits CD without the originals hits on it. I haven't heard the U.S. version - but to be honest I wouldn't buy it because the songs are probably unrecognisable.

The following is the track listing for the UK CD that I copied from Amazon.co.uk:

Disc: 1 1. Saving all my love for you 2. Greatest love of all 3. One moment in time 4. I have nothing 5. I will always love you 6. Run to you 7. You give good love 8. All at once 9. Where do broken hearts go 10. If you say my eyes are beautiful (Duet with Jermaine Jackson) 11. Didn't we almost have it all 12. All the man that I need 13. Exhale (shoop shoop) 14. Count on me (Duet with CeCe Winans) 15. I believe in you and me 16. I learned from the best 17. Same script, different cast (Duet with Deborah Cox) 18. Could I have this kiss forever (Duet with Eurique Iglesias)(Metro mix)

Disc: 2 1. If I told you that (Whitney Houston & George Michael) 2. Fine 3. My love is your love 4. It's not right but it's okay 5. Heartbreak hotel 6. Step by step 7. Queen of the night (Cj Mackintosh mix) 8. I'm every woman 9. Love will save the day 10. I'm your baby tonight 11. So emotional 12. I wanna dance with somebody (who loves me) 13. How will I know 14. I will always love you (Hex Hector mix) 15. Greatest love of all (Club 69 mix) 16. It's not right but it's okay (Thunderpuss mix) 17. I'm your baby tonight (Dronez mix)

All of the tracks that people are complaining about being missing from the US version are on this one instead. I hope you manage to get your hands on a copy - you'll like it!

Whitney Houston is one of the key reasons I fell in love with music. I have loved her music ever since "The Greatest Love of All." And despite her recent personal turmoil (and several cancelled concerts over the years in my home town), I still hold Whitney Houston in the highest regard. This Greatest Hits compilation is great, whether you are a long-time or a new fan, whether you have all her CDs or own none, whether you love Whitney herself or whether you simply love that beautiful, soulful, and inspirational message that music can generate. Greatest Hits is a fantastic piece of music history that is a pleasure to own and enjoy.

This is a 2 CD set, which is easy to fathom given Whintey's success over the past almost 20 years. The first CD is entitled "Cool Down," which is appropriate given it features Whitney's slower power ballads, putting you in a calm, mellow, inspired place. While most of the songs are known to us all, of special note are the duets. "If You Say My Eyes Are Beautiful," a duet with Jermaine Jackson, is a rare, beautiful, and wondrous gem. "Same Script, Different Cast" is a beautiful and haunting ballad featuring Deborah Cox. And Diane Warren produces another anthemic ballad masterpiece with "Could I Have This Kiss Forever" featuring Enrique Iglesias. While there are bound to be some omissions, most notably missing on this CD is "When You Believe," Whitney's duet with Mariah Carey that garnered and Oscar nomination.

The second CD, entitled "Throw Down," is meant to put you uncontrollably onto the dance floor. This CD is especially unique for offering rare items that the average listener would not typically hear. "Fine" and "If I Told You That" are two new songs that are potential dance floor smashes. If you've listened to top 40 radio at all in the past year, you will be very familiar with the Thunderpuss Mix of "It's Not Right But It's Okay" and the Jonathan Peters Mix of "My Love is Your Love." Most of the rest of the mixes I could do without - I tend to prefer the originals. However, oddly, the remix of "Greatest Love of All" is an exception. This mix is executed beautifully, maintaining the power and beauty of the original, but it enables you to interpret the way you are emotionally moved into physical movement. While not dance tunes, the last two songs still "Throw Down" in that they are hugely inspirational and make a most fantastic conclusion to this set. "One Moment in Time" is Whitney's anthemic contribution to the 1988 Summer Olympics and is an uplifting, inspirational piece. And if you missed Whitney's 1991 performance of "The Star Spangled Banner" at the Super Bowl, here is your chance to hear and relive this masterpiece (for me, this song by itself is worth the price of the CD).

This CD is worth buying on a number of different levels. If you are a fan of Whintey's ballads but never purchased her CDs, this is a great way to obtain those ballads in one simple place. If you love to dance and love having unique mixes over the originals, the second CD in this set is surely for you. And for those of you, like me, who have Whintey's CDs but still went, "Oh my god! If You Say My Eyes are Beautiful! One Moment in Time! The Star Spangled Banner! " and about had a heart attack, yes, it is most definitely worth purchasing. Chances are there will be songs you don't like, and fans will be asking "Why didn't she include [such and such song]?" Despite these minor criticisms, this is undeniably an excellent compilation of Whitney's work to date, as well as a great tribute to the fans who were clamoring for rare and unique gems. A 5 star release through and through.

Thank you, Whitney, for sharing your wondrous talent with us. And thank you for sharing these beautiful, special, and unique gems of musical history. You are the greatest.

Forget all the rumours, the marriage, etc. This lady has a once-in-a-lifetime voice and this greatest hits double CD proves her importance in pop music history! This collection is top rate and so much better than most greatest hits albums, because of the new songs and bonus tracks which are unavailable on previous albums.

Disc 1 - "Cool Down" is simply a documentary of hit after hit from the 80s with "You Give Good Love" to the Bodyguard ballads to her more recent 90s hits like "Heartbreak Hotel". These are classics, folks. There are few artists that have sustained such a long string of hits that are landmarks in many of our lives. The addition of "If You Say My Eyes Are Beautiful" with Jermaine Jackson was a fine choice, and brings itback o the public. The best new song is the duet with Deborah Cox "Same Script, Different Cast". Their voices blend so well together and it will definitely be a #1 hit.

Disc 2 - "Throw Down" and Whitney can do just that: throw it down! I don't think there is any artist out there that can boast the number of remixed hits that Whitney has had. Many of these remixes have never been available on CD before, so that makes this collection so much more valuable! The Junior Vasquez remixes are top-notch!

The final addition of her Olympic contributions "One Moment In Time" and "The Star Spangled Banner" show how important this artist is to America and the rest of the world. She's a national treasure! This album is essential for anyone who is breathing!

One fine day, I was browsing in a Tower Records Store when I saw this album. I was really excited about it. I'm not exactly a big fan of Whithey, but I've always liked her songs in general and I do think she possess a very good voice.

However, I was a bit disappointed after I listened to the album.

First, it was the order of the tracks. If you play the songs in the order as they were arranged, you will pretty soon get bored. Perhaps Whitney may have wanted it that way, (as she says in the album sleeve, "take a trip down memory lane with me"; in her early years Whitney trademark songs were mostly ballads) But it achieved an effect of hearing something similar over again with each passing track. Ballads if played continuously in a row do bore the listener. It would have been better if in between ballads, a fast number was added.

Second, it's Whitney's singing. I realised one thing, whitney shouts a lot in her singing especially during her early years. I've never been bothered with that before in the past when i hear her songs singly played on radio - in fact, I've quite liked that sort of dramatic singing on songs like "I will always love you". But when you hear song after song that she shouts incessantly - you just get a bit irritated. Plus the fact that you're hearing ballad after ballad, it doesn't make things any better. No doubt Whitney has a great voice - she sounds so feminine when she sings in a mellow way, and she is a powerhouse when she blares out loud. But she overused the second technique too much. She should have toned down her singing more, and used her shouting technique more discerningly.(Take cue from Christina Aguilera) Even Mariah Carey doesn't sound so bombastic.

Third, disc two was boring - it was probably there to jack up the price of the album. The biggest fault in disc 2 is exactly the same fault that exists in disc 1 - too much similarity. The songs are basically ALL dance remixes - or perhaps to be more accurate, old and recent songs of whitney where the original accompaniment music have been swapped with disco beats. In fact, it gives a feeling of repetition as you listen to disc 2. Most of the remixes follow more or less the same remixing formula.- Thumping bass, groovy beats and some snazzy atmospheric effects. The vocals are exactly the same as they were on the original album versions! Whitney should have used new vocals! Disc 2 will have been "THROWN DOWN" into oblivion if not for the first two tracks. I did not enjoy listening to disc 2 at all. It was totally redundant, although the dance remixes could find some use for dance aerobics.

Okay, now for the good things of the album. The songs chosen are indeed the classics of Whitney. My personal favourite "Miracle", though, was not there. I love the new song "Same script, Different cast" - it's a creative way to make use of the love theme, and interesing lyrics too .

Here are my thoughts on the other new songs:

"Could I have this kiss forever" - typical Enrique Iglesias song.

"Fine" - light R&B hip hop beat- Whitney sounds good here. but song is overall unimpressive. It sounds like a filler.

"If I told you that" sounds so like "The Boy Is Mine" yet it fails to be as engaging as the latter. Perhaps the lyrics were not provocative enough.

All in all, the album's greatest flaw was in having too many ballads in one row. The good point is songs here are classics - it serves well to occasionally listen to a track or two from the collection here, but definitely not all in a row.

Verdict :

I will recommend this album for someone who's a DIEHARD fan of Whitney or someone who really loves her ballads a lot.

Perhaps if Arista downplayed the "greatest hits" label in favor of a more accurate title--maybe creating a unique two-cover front/back packaging based on the COOL DOWN/THROW DOWN theme--this set might have been met with less fan resistance. To sum up the majority opinion (and I agree): Disc 1/COOL DOWN is a fine if incomplete remastered representation of Whitney's most famous ballad performances. Disc 2/THROW DOWN mostly plays remix games with her up-tempo cuts--and most buyers would seem to prefer the original versions on a "greatest hits" collection. Couldn't the remixes have been issued on a separate CD targeted to the fans who want them?

To the potential buyer...if you aren't picky about having the original versions of every Houston hit, this colection is a decent but flawed representation of her career--probably a good deal given the discounted price. If you were hoping that this set would render all other Whitney CDs obsolete by collecting the best, unaltered tracks from each album, your expectations will NOT be met here--not even close! NONE of Whitney's uptempo hit singles are heard here except in a significantly remixed/altered state.

Two solutions: 1) if you have a DVD player, the video version of this album has the original versions of a much greater percentage of Whitney's hits than does this audio release (PLUS you get the visuals). And/or 2) pay extra money and get an import version of GREATEST HITS, which has the original versions of most of Whitney's dance hits as well as her ballads.