Whitney Houston
The Greatest Hits
Arista Records

It was inevitable.

Fifteen years after emerging on the music scene, Whitney Houston has released a double disc "best of" collection, aptly entitled The Greatest Hits.

Disc One, entitled Cool Down, features the strong yet melodic ballads for which Houston is best known. If early hits like "Saving All My Love for You" and "Didn't We Almost Have it All" don't conjure nostalgic memories, images from The Bodyguard and Waiting to Exhale will certainly appear with soundtrack singles, "I Will Always Love You" and "Exhale (Shoop Shoop)."

Cool Down provides the slow favourites that flatter Houston's molasses-like vocals. They are complemented by two new duets, "Same Script, Different Cast" (with Canada's most promising diva, Deborah Cox) and "Could I have this Kiss Forever" (with Enrique Iglesias). The latter track, currently receiving solid airplay, capitalizes on the popularity of Latin flavoured rhythms while indulging Iglesias' sultry sound.

Unlike the gratifying first half of the album, the second disc, Throw Down, should instead be called Throw Out. Although it offers Houston's more upbeat classics like "I'm Every Woman" and "I Wanna Dance with Somebody (Who Loves Me)," they're all inferior, remixed versions. This is unfortunate since the premise of an album like this is to feature the greatest hits as they were first released; altering them is like tampering with perfection.

The biggest problem is that the remixes pervert original hits to conform to some abstract understanding of current musical trends. The result is disappointing in that Houston's vocals become subjugated to a monotonous and downright annoying dance beat.

As a whole, however, the 36 tracks on The Greatest Hits, make it a diverse album. With classics, remixes and new singles, this melange features more than the standard fare for "best of" albums. If Houston fans are willing to give this compilation "One Moment in Time," they are bound to find something they enjoy.

­Rebecca Morier