Ironically, the music that Diana Ross recorded at the height of her celebrity and bankability (by 1983, she was one of the highest-paid entertainers in the world) is largely forgotten today.

The RCA Years have long divided fans; certainly, Ross' output from this period doesn't begin to approach the consistency and quality of her earlier or subsequent work. Listening to her RCA albums today, it is obvious that Ross was coasting; self-producing a large portion of the material, she simply sounds disinterested and soulless on many tracks.

This scattershot compilation manages to pull together most of Ross' major hits from 1981-1987, and, surprisingly, some of them hold up very well. However, many are mere footnotes in a legendary career.

The "Why Do Fools Fall in Love" album was a platinum-selling record, and spawned two Top 10 hits: the title track and "Mirror, Mirror." The former is one of Ross' least memorable hits, a why-bother synth-pop update of the 1956 Frankie Lymon classic. The latter, however, is one of the more compelling sides Ross recorded at RCA; a punchy, hard-driving rock-dance number featuring a juicy background track.

Unfortunately, the remainder of the album was soft-focus mush, as evidenced by "It's Never Too Late," a thankless disco retread that must have sounded dated even in 1981. More worthwhile, although similarly unneccessary, is Ross' emotional but overwrought solo rendition of "Endless Love," her chart-topping duet with Lionel Richie. Curiously ommitted from this package is "Work That Body," a camp novelty which was a major Top 10 hit for Ross in England. Although its 5-minute album version is way too much of a mediocre thing, its single edit (available on the UK compilaion, "Life & Love") is an amusing curiosity.

1982's "Silk Electric" went gold on the strength of the brilliant, erotic single, "Muscles," penned for Ross by Michael Jackson. The tight, steamy arrangement and Ross' intensely sexy performance can still raise temperatures. The same cannot be said of the album as a whole, which is largely (and rightfully) considered by most to be Ross' weakest. Bafflingly, neither "So Close" (the second single and a Top 40 hit) nor "Love Lies," the strongest album track, are included here--instead, "In Your Arms" is offered. A mediocre song to begin with, it is given a phoned-in interpretation and a watered-down arrangement. Whitney Houston and Teddy Pendergrass would invest considerably more feeling into their subsequent version, re-titled "Hold Me."

"Ross" (1983) is perhaps the most underrated album in the diva's RCA catalog. The infamous "drugged-out" cover shot probably hasn't helped its reputation, but it's actually a decent slice of soul- and pop-lite, with production duties divided ably between Gary Katz of Steely Dan and Ray Parker, Jr. "Pieces of Ice," a quirky but irresistible dance number, was the Top 40 hit of the set, but is maddeningly not offered on "The RCA Years." Neither is the driving, similarly overlooked "Up Front," a minor chart hit. "Let's Go Up" (another lower-rung charter) and "Love or Loneliness" are fine, but the omission of the aforementioned two tracks is unfortunate.

Commercially, "Swept Away" (1984) represented a rebound after the disappointing sales of "Ross." The album went gold, while the crunching, Daryl Hall & Arthur Baker-produced title track (another fabulous dance-rock number) hit the pop Top 20 and #3 on the R&B chart. "Missing You," the album's centerpiece ballad, ranks among Ross' finest performances ever, and is unquestionably the best song she recorded at RCA. Written and produced by Lionel Richie, it remains elegant, heartfelt perfection. Unfortunately, Ross' kitsch-clasic Top 20 duet with Julio Iglesias, "All of You," is MIA, as is the standout album track, "Forever Young." Also missing is the calypso-flavored "Touch by Touch," a favorite among fans (and a minor UK hit) and the Nile Rodgers-produced "Telephone," a substantial R&B hit.

The best of Ross' RCA albums, "Eaten Alive" (1985), is best remembered for the fan favorite, "Chain Reaction," a sublime 60's throwback which was a massive #1 hit in England. Another audience pleaser, "Experience," is included here, as is "I Love Being in Love with You." The highly underrated title track (another of Ross' rock-influenced dance tracks) was a Top 10 R&B hit, but--you guessed it, it's nowhere to be found here. Also, the album's original closer, "Don't Give Up on Each Other," is a terrific performance which could easily have replaced several of the filler tracks on this compilation.

Diana's RCA tenure ended quietly with the much-hyped but ultimately disappointing "Red Hot Rhythm & Blues" (1987). Producer Tom Dowd co-produced Dusty Springfield's seminal "Dusty in Memphis," and engineered and arranged such essential Aretha albums as "I Never Loved a Man" and "Lady Soul," but you'd never guess it from his sterile work here. Never living up to the promise of its title, the album was a bland mix of largely indifferent contemporary material and empty covers of cutesy 50's and 60's hits--Ross' revivals of The Bobbettes' "Mr. Lee," The Drifters' "There Goes My Baby" and Jackie Ross' "Selfish One" are inoffensive but thoroughly unremarkable. The sultry "Dirty Looks" was a respectable Top 20 R&B hit, but is yet another inexplicable omission here. Leonard Cohen's haunting "Summertime" and Luther Vandross' delicious "It's Hard for Me to Say" are the original album's definite highlights, and so their inclusion here is warranted; but the banal "Tell Me Again" and forgettable "Cross My Heart" are pure trifles.

Clearly, Diana Ross' RCA years were patchy to begin with, and the often baffling choices made by the producers of this compilation don't help matters. It's a decent CD for completist Ross fanatics who would like newly-mastered versions of some of these songs, and novice Ross fans who are unable to obtain her largely deleted RCA catalog on CD. But it certainly doesn't showcase the diva at her frequent best.

The legendary Diana Ross deserves better treatment for her RCA catalog. The collection simply is a misrepresentation of that particular period in her career, and it undermines her credibility as an 80's hitmaker. While her 80's Pop era was not her most sterling, her transition from Motown was at least more successful than is displayed here. And any RCA collection without the inclusion of the international smash hit "All Of You (Duet with Julio Iglesias)" is inadequate. Most notable absent singles are "Pieces Of Ice", "Eaten Alive", and "Dirty Looks". If the label is going to release a "Greatest Hits", then at least there should be the inclusions of actual singles instead of album filler.

Nice album cover. Needs improvement in overall packaging, song sequence, new liner notes, and remastering. Could benefit from extended 12" versions of the uptempo numbers ("Eaten Alive" was an outstanding remix - the extended version would have made this collection priceless, while "Pieces Of Ice" was much tighter and better paced in the single version). A note to other reviewers: although "All Of You" was released as a Columbia 45 rpm single, it was cross-licensed and released in the RCA LP release, "Swept Away". The inclusion of "Endless Love" without Lionel Richie may be a throwaway, but RCA only owns this solo version, which she re-recorded for the "Why Do Fools Fall In Love" LP. Its inclusion is validated with the fact that it was her most successful song of the 1980's.

The following would be the ideal track listing:

1. Why Do Fools Fall In Love?

2. Mirror, Mirror (Extended Version)

3. Work That Body

4. It's Never Too Late

5. Endless Love (Solo Version)

6. Muscles (12" Version)

7. Pieces Of Ice (Single Edit)

8. All Of You (Duet with Julio Iglesias)

9. Swept Away (Extended Version)

10. Missing You

11. Forever Young

12. Touch By Touch

13. Eaten Alive (12" Version)

14. Chain Reaction (Single Mix)

15. Dirty Looks

At the VERY LEAST, RCA, please provide a remastered compilation, entitle it "THE RCA SINGLES", and lets call it a day! Is that too much to ask?

Diana Ross sounds great on this so called greatest hits album. Due to the fact that RCA has deleted all of Diana's studio albums from their catalogue except for Why Do Fools Fall in Love, this collection is the only way we can listen to this music on CD (there is a cheapo version of the RCA hits called Endless Love, so cheap it doesn't even have a cover photograph). So what's the problem with the album? It's called Greatest Hits, duh! So where are all the charting singles? Considering RCA failed to work Ross's singles to the pop market (which is why "Chain Reaction" was a number one in England but here struggled twice to get into the top 100 hot singles), one would think that her singles which charted on the R&B chart would be included. Forget it. You won't find "Pieces of Ice," "Telephone," "Upfront," "Dirty Looks," etc. And singles like "All of You," the duet with Julio Iglesis, are also absent (and this song did go top forty pop as well as adult contemporty). What about "So Close" her doo-wop number from Silk Electric? It made it to 40 on the top forty pop and it was top five adult contemporary. It too isn't on this album. Instead RCA sees fit to tell us what the greatest hits are based not on chart position or even whether or not the song was a single. And what's with the essay? Is the guy who wrote it even aware of Diana's music? He mistakenly credits former Supreme Cindy Birdsong for co-writing "I Am Me" off the Silk Electric album (and flip side of the hit single "Muscles") when in fact the Motown connected woman he means is Janie Bradford. Didn't anyone proof the essay? Didn't anyone care? Listening to this album you can hear Diana Ross cared about what she recorded. Too bad RCA didn't care about Ross, her music, or the people who bought it. Again, a five for Ross, a one for RCA (and they only get that because otherwise we wouldn't have a representation of any of her work for the label except her first studio album). If you're thinking of getting a Diana Ross album and haven't gotten Every Day is a New Day, skip this and buy Ross's latest.

This album really shouldn't be called a Greatest Hits album because many of the songs on the album aren't even hits. Summertime, Selfish One, Let's Go Up, I Love Being In Love With You, and Cross My Heart were never even singles, let alone hits. Pieces of Ice and Work That Body were both moderate hits, yet don't appear on the album, nor does Eaten Alive or Dirty Looks.

It's not a bad album for the casual fan, but I think this album would have made more sense if it had been a singles collection of all the singles she released with RCA.

While I perfer her 70's work and her 90's work to the 80's...this is still a pretty great collection of songs. While I change my mind(often) as to which diana ross is my all time favorite "Missing you" has to be one her best recordings ever.and "Mirror Mirror" and "Why Do Fools fall in love" along with "telphone" make up a great collection.