Customer Reviews

Changing Faces: Best of Louise

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Louise has never had a hit in the US, or released an album here. That hasnt stopped me from discovering what an awesome talent she is. Both charming, and down right delightful, this disc is a must have for any true fan of pop music. From "Naked" to "Beautiful inside" she delivers one great song after another. The inclusion of the Eternal singles was a nice touch, but not at all necessary seeing as how she recorded so many really great solo singles. "Beautiful inside","2 faced", "In walked love", "Undivided love", "Lets go round again" and "Naked" would have done it for me. Luckily someone decided otherwise! Hopefully she'll head our way now that EMI has let her go... she'd do rather well on the US charts.

Louise is a fine singer who began her career with the group Eternal. She recorded one album with them, yielding the British top ten hits Stay, Just a step from heaven and Oh baby, which peaked at 4, 8 and 4 respectively.

After splitting from Eternal to go solo, she recorded three albums prior to this greatest hits package. The singles released from those albums were very successful, all reaching the UK top twenty and many of them reaching the top ten. Her biggest hits were Two faced and Arms around the world, which peaked at 3 and 4 respectively.

Many of her songs were originals, but she also had hits with Stuck in the middle with you (Stealers wheel), Let's go round again (Average white band) and The slightest touch (Five star). All of these were updated to suit Louise's style.

Louise is a brilliant singer whose music is well worth investigating, if you are even a little bit interested in nineties Britpop.

Most people will probably best remember Louise for her days in Eternal, the British girl group that were the real instigators of girl power. After a highly-publicised departure, Louise left and this greatest hits effectively shows off her solo hits as well as some reworkings of the old Eternal material. This is definitely one of the better greatest hits around, as the singles were always undoubtedly Louise's strong point, despite three solid albums behind her now.

The classics from the first album are arguably the best, with 'Naked' especially being a true classic of mid-90's pop music. Other singles from that album include fan-favourites 'Light Of My Life' and 'In Walked Love'. As a ballad, 'Light Of My Life' employs very strong vocals with thankfully unsentimental lyrics. These three singles perhaps more than any others are the real standouts on the album. Also taken from the first album is 'Undivided Love', an upbeat and infectious little number.

From Louise's second album come the hits singles 'Arms Around The World', a definite highlight, along with the cover of 'Let's Go Round Again', which is the disco pastiche included. However, it's surprisingly not cheesy and has been well done so that it fits well alongside the more modern hits. The less successful 'All That Matters' is here as well, which bops along quite nicely.

The third album songs are those that the younger audience will remember, as the older ones do go a fair way back. They include 'Two-Faced' which is simply delightful in saying exactly what Louise thinks of the two-faced people around her. Then there's the straightforward pop of 'Beautiful Inside', which shows that Louise isn't afraid to go back to a simplistic yet highly effective pop formula.

The new tracks, including a great cover version of 'Stuck In The Middle', a good value as well. However, the covers of old Eternal classics such as 'Stay' are the real interest. Louise has wisely chosen to make them a little bit different to suit her vocals, and it really does work. A slow version of 'Stay' is an unexpected highlight.

This more than anything else cements Louise's success, spanning a long career which is full of fantastic singles - 'Changing Faces' is an album that everyone should snap up now.

the one reason to buy this is, Louise's crystal clear vocals, pure pop....
Her ballads are great, this collection only has two, a cover of "light of my life" and the sultry "one kiss from heaven" . I prefer her new material it's more R&b/ dance influenced like "beatiful inside"...i bought this for the cover songs "stuck in the middle" and the 5 STAR cover (the slightest touch)...one problem i have with this colletion is the Eternal song's included, they don't feature enough of Louise so who cares..this is basically a singles collection...i own all of her cds, so i feel this colleciont doesn't really show her range...but ok for a general collection.

An inoffensive slice of Britpop. No one does harmless, light British Pop better than Louise Redknapp. She was once part of the UK Girl Group Eternal (though I never liked their music), and went on to release a few solo albums. Personally I think a Greatest Hits collection was unwarranted, but her record label put it out anyway.

Whats surprising is that despite putting out just a couple of solo albums, the hit here are many. Not many remember that Louise had some really wonderful music videos back in the day - listening to the songs will remind you of them.

The three best cuts on this CD are "Naked", "2-Faced", and of course the much talked about "In Walked Love". At the time, Louise was heavily criticized for apparently copying Janet Jackson's "Runaway" song for one of her single releases. Even that song is included here - and in retrospect, except for the opening strains it sounds nothing like the Jackson track.

Louise was one artist whose solo work far outshone her groups' collective efforts. For some reason she has never made it 'big' in the UK, despite very Victoria Beckham-like moves (Louise married a sportsperson as well). However, its not that her music was bad. In fact, I would say this is better than that last Spice Girls album, as track for track this is mindless pop music at its' best. Take it for what it is, and a good time will be had.