THALIA

Far from the first greatest-hits collection for Thalía yet notably the first to compile hits from her EMI years, Greatest Hits is a nonstop pleasure. There's a bounty of music -- 16 songs here, drawn from five albums, two of the inclusions previously unreleased -- and it's a well-balanced sample of the Latin pop star's many hits from the mid-'90s to the early 2000s. Plus, it's sequenced in chronological order, so you get to hear her music evolve in style, becoming increasingly poppy and multicultural. In this way, the collection plays like a microcosm of Latin pop itself during this span of time, for more than probably any other Latin music artist, Thalía embodied the essence of pop in all its sweet glory. The pair of previously released songs is up to par with the rest of the inclusions, especially the excellent "Cuando Tú Me Toca." If you're looking for an entry point into Thalía's fairly vast catalog, Greatest Hits is ideal. For one, you don't even want to consider her early-'90s recordings for Fonovisa/Universal, and for two, because each of her EMI albums has its own character, it's useful to sample those different sounds here. That way, if you find a particular set of songs you like, chances are you'll probably enjoy the entire album those songs came from. This sampler approach aside, Greatest Hits is simply a great beginning-to-end listen -- again, a nonstop pleasure as the joyful, feel-good parade of hits cascades over the course of the hour-plus CD. Jason Birchmeier.

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