Music Review: Now on vinyl, Shania Twain’s ‘Greatest Hits’ shines anew

Shania Twain is aware of the idea of a success.

Her second album “The Woman in Me” offered 20 million copies. Her subsequent, “Come On Over,” offered 40 million. Her 2004 “Greatest Hits” album was one among its personal, promoting greater than half 1,000,000 copies in its first week — sufficient to grow to be the fastest-selling hits album by a feminine artist within the United States, per the Guinness World Records. It has since been licensed 4 instances platinum.

Now, as vinyl records and their gamers see a resurgence, that album has been remastered for vinyl, obtainable Friday.

The assortment, like its authentic, opens with the shimmery pop model of “Forever and For Always,” a correct introduction to the style and Shania enjoyable enclosed. This model — coming 19 years after its authentic launch — provides a monitor from every of the Canadian nation star’s most up-to-date albums: “Life’s About To Get Good” from 2017’s “Now” and “Giddy Up!” from this 12 months’s “Queen of Me.”

The 23 songs reveal the cross-genre prowess that noticed Twain climb each nation and pop charts, after which allowed future country-pop artists — particularly feminine country-pop artists — to do the identical. Casual followers received’t discover big variations within the remastered tracks. The rousing drum beat and melodic fiddle on “Any Man of Mine” nonetheless gives a wealthy background to Twain’s sturdy vocals, however feels sharpened. The futuristic intro of “I’m Gonna Getcha Good!” sounds brighter, “Up!” remains to be aggressively catchy and optimistic.

Missing, like in 2004, are any songs from Twain’s self-titled debut album. The hits start as a substitute with these from “The Woman in Me,” her second album and the primary produced by her then-husband Robert “Mutt” Lange. As she advised The Associated Press in 2020, that album made her a star, however extra importantly, gave her extra management of her artistry. “In my thoughts, I used to be simply being myself and that was the good factor of all — to simply be capable to be myself and let my character come by way of within the music,” she stated.

That character shines by way of on the remastered tracks, its power emphasised by her consistency. Twain’s voice might have modified within the years between 2002’s “Up!” and “Now” and amid her battle with Lyme illness, nevertheless it’s clear she is as assured on “Life’s About to Get Good” and “Giddy Up!” as she is on iconic hits like “Man! I Feel Like a Woman” and “That Don’t Impress Me Much.”

It’s shocking that it took this lengthy for Twain’s “Greatest Hits” to make it to vinyl — in some ways, a bodily document looks like the right vessel for such a hitmaker’s biggest hits. The package deal now comes at an ideal second: amid a surge in Shania love on the heels of her first tour in 5 years, forward of her 2024 return to Las Vegas and simply in time for the vacations.