Foreign to most Americans (although known for her breat cancer triumph), Anastacia is a SUPERSTAR across the pond and into the mountains. Amassing herself a sizable catalog of hits, 2005 is the time for a required collected works to hit distant shores. And the result? Pretty darn good.

Opening with the soaring "I'm Outta Love", the tracks the precede in the order they were released. Most the material off the "Not that Kind" and "Freak Of Nature" is typical girl with big voice material. The outstanding expections are the unreal "One Day In Your Life", "Cowboy's And Kisses", and "You'll Never Stand Alone" (presented here in it's richer, more complex US release reworked mix).

Beginning with "Left Outside Alone" and straight through the closing notes of the album we are given some truly great, amazing, and inspired music. "Anastacia" (the album) finally has Ms. Stacia rockin her true voice. It's a true shame that album has failed to surface domestically. Given the climate of girl rock and heavy lyrics the album could finally give Anastacia some major hits on US charts. And what about these new songs? "In Your Eyes" is a competent rock ballad, but hold on to your seats for the collection's true gem, "Pieces Of A Dream". A deep, rich, and challenging ballad that fits Anastacia's voice and latest sounds perfectly. Almost sounding like a throw away from "Anastacia", this song is no one's sloppy seconds. The one off track? The duet with Eros. He definatley has a market, but this track should have been left off.

Sadly some really amazing tracks were not released as singles; "Overdue Goodbye", "How Come The World Won't Stop", "Time", "Rearview, and the beautiful b-sided "Underground Army" far surpass some of the tunes selected for radio and release. But ulitmately this is a singles release and present the artist's best known tracks.

The "special edition" comes with a bonus remix disc featuring a collection of dance mixes. It's truly genuis idea that is a welcome choice from the ever popular additional DVD that is popping up everywhere. Most of the tracks have had releases elsewhere, but for US fans it's a great chance to get them all in one spot without have to search. Some tunes are repeated and having rarities (b-sides and rare mixes) would have made this disc truly amazing.

The packaging also deserves a nod. The designers really rocked out and made this release memorable. The CD's are house inside the inner sleeves or a little hardcover book (the album cover is still intact and looks breathtaking). The pages of the book feature the photos apparently taken for the since cancelled US release of "Anastacia" and re-shot "Left Outside Alone" video. The full lyrics and credits are included on the high glass, glossy stock paper. The CD's are a bit hard to get out of the sleeve and can become scratched easily if not handled with a little TLC. So be careful with this one!!

The final product is a great one. Anastacia is an amazing singer/songwriter with a great collection of hits to draw from. In the season of "best of/greatest hits" collections this one is stand out above the rest.

Love it! Anastacia's Greatest Hits. This release that I purchased was the import. Please note: The U.S. Domestic release does NOT include the Dance Remix Bonus CD. In my opinion--the best part of this album. Not that I don't love all the rest of Anastacia's tracks...but alas, I already own almost all of the other great songs in this collection---previously released. Most artists do this when releasing a retrospective---with a few new releases as incentive for Die-hard fans to purchase an album containing mostly songs they already have. With that said---If you dig Anastacia, get this import CD set. It comes packaged in a very slick little picture book (hardcover) with 2 CD's fitting neatly inside the front and back covers. Be careful handling the CD's as they tend to be more prone to surface scratches in packaging like this. The Domestic release of "Pieces of a Dream" include a dance mega-mix of Ana's more popular hits. The bonus CD contained in this import version have DJ remixes of "One Day in Your Life", "I'm Outta Love", "Paid My Dues", "Boom", "Sick & Tired" and others (albeit more remix radio edits than I would've liked!). The remix disc has 14 tracks altogether. Some are different versions of the same song---but still really cool! Disc 1 has 17 tracks. "Everything Burns", "You'll Never Be Alone", "Not That Kind" and "Left Outside Alone" being some of my fave tracks. If you only have her "Freak of Nature" album--you'll get quite a few tracks that were only available previously as import releases. My partner & I saw her live here in Palm Springs,CA---she is an amazing talent with an enormous voice, striking beauty and killer style! Being a huge inspiration to both of us, we had to seek out and obtain all of her albums. Do yourself 2 favors: 1-Buy this CD set. 2-Do a search on Google for Anastacia Lyn Newkirk---you'll find out alot about one amazing little lady!!!

The very best of Anastacia!!! There are all her albums' hit singles, and this should be enough to decide to buy it, but the new tracks make it a real masterpiece!!! 'Pieces of a dream''s simply hypnotizin' and addictin', and with 'Everything Burns' you'll cry and shout as you've never done!!! 'In your eyes' and 'I belong to you' with Eros Ramazzotti are romantic and touchin', great songs!!! The 'Megamix', mmmh, well, is a mega-mix!!!It's too bad she didn't include her single 'Boom', but if you're a real fan of Anastacia, absolutely, in any case, YOU MUST OWN IT!!!

I first viewed Anastacia about 15 years ago on MTV a talent show if you will. She placed in second which was a joke. Anatacia has the "WHOLE" package!!! I live in Florida and she is Hot here. It is to bad that the rest of the USA does not play or carry her music. She by far is a True Diva! This CD is "outstanding" as well as her others were. This is the best of Anastacia and has new releases that have not been released in the USA. It is a double CD and is simply more than I could have asked for. The first CD is the best of her singles and some new songs, the second is if you will a dance mix of her singles which again I will say is "outstanding" My Compaion and I had the Pleasure of seeing her live and I have yet to see another female artist give what she has in the pop world. When comes to great muics for dance and Love this is it! I only again wish that the USA would treat this Diva as she should be instead of her having to cross seas to become a HOT Female Artist. Anastacia has the Voice, look, body, personality and the presentation to out any female pop artist out today in the USA! I look forward to her next release knowing it will be better than that last as each one is. Oh this comes so wonderfuly packaged with a huge book like carrier. With words to each of her songs and some wonderful pictures of her. If you even think you like Her this is a Must have!

Joey C.

&

Jimmy W.

Anastacia is...the worlds best kept secret! And this mix of greatest hits is the best way to join in on all the RAVE!