Sarah Brightman has changed as much as her music has, going from Broadway singer to the ultimate Christine Daae, and then to an astounding pop diva.

That said, people who have her other albums really shouldn't bother with "Diva: The Singles Collection," because they will already have this music. However, this is an outstanding place for newcomers -- who may be overwhelmed by the quantity of Brightman's music -- to get acquainted with both her best pop tunes and her earlier work on Broadway.

It opens with two of her best musical numbers, both from her starmaking turn as Christine. First the dark, dramatic "Phantom of the Opera" ("In sleep he sang to me/in dreams he came...") and the sensual "Music of the Night," which has her sweet voice accompanied by an orchestral sweep of strings and gentle brass.

Then the tone switches to "Pie Jesu," a traditional hymn that is raised to almost ecstatic levels by Brightman's soaring voice, and then again to her gentle classical-pop tunes like the soaring "Who Wants to Live Forever?" the childlike "Tu Quieres Volver," and the bittersweet, fragile "What You Never Know." There are brief forays into her electronic pop past, and some traditional tunes and covers of oldie acid tributes.

But there are also some real lungbusters on this album as well, where Brightman shows that her voice is not just sweet, but powerful. She soars through the swelling strings of "Just Show Me How to Love You" and the wonder-filled "Deliver Me," before wrapping things up with (unsurprisingly) the Andrew Bocelli duet "Time to Say Goodbye."

What can be criticized about the songs? Nothing, really -- these songs are all about Brightman at her best. The main flaw with "Diva" is perhaps that it should have been a double album, since some of her best and most prominent songs are missing. Where's the title tracks of "La Luna or "Eden," for example? Or her cover of Dido's "Here With Me"?

That said, the songs are pretty much all strong. The more rockin' style of "Question of Honour" makes it stick out like a sore thumb, but the others are delicate spins of classical instrumentation and operatic pop tunes. Some of the songs are covers -- Puccini, Procol Harum, and folk songs among them -- but Brightman fits into them very well.

I guess that's the advantage of having a magnificent voice. Brightman can do the grandstanding vocals from "Phantom of the Opera" well enough, but she excels at the sweet vocals of pop songs, and the soaring arias. What's remarkable is that her voice sounds as good in the recent songs as it does in the older ones.

"Diva: The Singles Collection" is not for longtime fans. Instead, it's a solid instroduction to people who haven't heard Brightman before, but want to hear the "angel of music" for themselves.

Slipping quietly onto store shelves, "Diva:The Singles Collection" is a great companion piece to previous release "Classics". Sarah Brightman's talent has gone largely unignored by pop radio; however, her ethereal voice has gained her a huge following ( she sells out arenas...so somebody's gotta be listening!) worldwide. "The Singles Collection" is just that, a sort of "Greatest Hits/Best of/Most Loved" Brightman classics. Starting with "The Phantom of the Opera" and straight through till "Time To Say Goodbye", the songs here are a well appointed batch for those new to Sarah Brightman. Of course die-hards will always cry foul--some major "singles"--"Harem" and "Eden" come to mind but are missing off the track list. But never fear, the songs here are amazing.

Sarah Brightman's name became synonymous with Andrew Lloyd Webber as his one-time wife and muse two decades ago, but it was her voice that made her a star and would have made her a star with or without Webber. Yes, she became famous for singing his tunes early on, but it was her talent and undying love for her art that made her the biggest-selling soprano of all time. With such masterpiece albums as Eden, La Luna, Harem, Requiem, Surrender and Timeless/Time To Say Goodbye under her belt, this collection is compiled of the greatest songs from those and one Lloyd Webber cast album, Phantom Of The Opera. Brightman already has a devoted following, and if you play this CD for anyone who is not familiar with the superiority of Sarah's vocals, you are sure to add that many more to her fanbase. It's hard to say where to begin on this collection because all fourteen tracks are proven winners. Whether it's the splendiferous opening track of "Phantom Of The Opera," which features her duet partner Steve Harley, to the sensational, spine-tingling closer of "Time To Say Goodbye (Con Te Partiró)," complimented by Andrea Bocelli, there's nothing not to like on this magnificent CD with its carefully chosen tracks. In between the opening and closing tracks, we are treated to phenomenal selections that include "Just Show Me How To Love You," "Deliver Me," "What You Never Know" and her gorgeous interpretations on such contemporary American fare as Simon & Garfunkel's "Scarborough Fair" to Procol Harem's 1967 masterpiece "A Whiter Shade Of Pale." Her Italian is perfection on "Nella Fantasia" while her unique interpretation of Queen's "Who Wants To Live Forever" will knock you out. If you already are familiar with these tracks and want to savor them on one splendid disc with gorgeous liner notes and photographs, this one's for you. If you're a visionary and would like to take this magnificent journey one step further, I suggest the DVD companion that contains 20 performances, which include the aforementioned plus superb performances like "Ave Maria," "Anytime, Anywhere," "Wishing You Were Somehow Here Again" and several more. To hear Sarah Brightman is diva divine. To see and hear Sarah Brightman is simply supreme.

Although this CD features no new songs that haven't already been released on CD, it is certainly worth getting. I have every Sarah Brightman CD but I didn't feel that getting "Diva" was a waste of money. It has a song from every era Sarah has done. "Pie Jesu" and "Phantom of the opera" from the Andrew Lloyd Weber time being the earliest and "It's a beautiful day" and "What you never know" from the Harem cd being the latest. The CD booklet is absolutely amazing. The paper quality and the picture quality is top-notch. There are a few rare pictures that are included. It's also great to have a lot of my favorite Sarah songs on one disc so I don't have to keep switching CDs to listen to all my favorites(although not all my favorite Sarah songs are included on Diva). If you buy this cd or the Diva DVD, you can go to her website- [...]and see some bonus footage.

There are some fans that don't understand why Diva is being released and Sarah's producer, Frank Peterson, explained a little why and I'd like to share it:

"Every so often artists and their record lables try to reach out to new demographics and new audiences by releasing retrospective collections.

There are many people out there who might think "Nella Fantasia" is an Il Divo original...people who might have never heard of Sarah Brightman, yet...

There are also many people who might have seen Sarah on TV, liked her music but didn't know what album to get. Best Of collections are aimed at exactly those people: potential NEW fans. Also, they serve as thee collection album that you would give to friends for Christmas, so, they can get an overall idea about your favourite artist."

He also stresses the different aspects on why "Diva" has been released:

"-To bridge the gap between "Harem" and Sarah's next album,

-to gain new fans,

-to make people aware of Sarah's almost 30-year career

-to remind people of Sarah's past hits and achievements,

-to turn as many people into Sarah Brightman fans as possible... "

-Taken from the official Sarah Brightman forum

So if you think you can use Diva to get people turned onto Sarah, or if you are an older fan, like myself, who needs every cd, or if you are a new Sarah Brightman fan, like the reviewer below me (Congratulations of finding Sarah Brightman!) this cd is a must!

This cd contains all the most relevant songs from Sarah B.All songs are masterpices,some are cover for other artist,some are not.

But, this cd could be a perfect gift from a Sarah fan to your coworkers in the office that dont' know Sarah.