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With her beautiful voice that varied from breezy to husky, Rita Coolidge was one of the unique voices of the seventies and eighties. This excellent compilation includes all of her greatest hits and some superb album tracks like her exquisite version of Leonard Cohen's Bird On A Wire.

Her biggest songs are all here: the romantic We're All Alone, the inspirational (Your Love Has Lifted Me) Higher And Higher, plus I'll Be Your Baby Tonight, I Don't Want To Talk About It, All Time High and her moving version of The Bee Gees' classic song Words. As a ballad singer, she added a depth of feeling to sometimes mundane lyrics, lifting the songs above the ordinary.

Her covers of songs like Wishin' and Hopin' and Sweet Inspiration are elegant and accomplished. It's a pity that some great album tracks, for example Whisky Whisky from a now deleted album, have not been included. Nevertheless, this is a satisfying showcase of a splendid singer that is sadly missed.

Rita's style was a mix of several styles of music with elements of pop, rock, folk, country and soul. The end result was generally mellow pop-rock music of the highest quality. The strongest collection of Rita's music is the double CD, Delta lady, though it must be noted that Words, a cover of an early Bee Gees songs, is omitted from that set. I understand that Rita selected the songs for Delta lady based on feedback from fans but I can't believe too many British fans provided feedback because Words was a UK top thirty hit. With only four UK hits altogether (the others are We're all alone, Higher and higher and All time high) it is an automatic choice for UK compilations.

This UK compilation includes those four UK hits plus covers of Bird on the wire (Leonard Cohen), I'll be your baby tonight (Bob Dylan), One fine day (Chiffons), Wishing and hoping (an American hit for Dusty Springfield but a British hit for the Merseybeats) among others. One notable omission is The way you do the things you do (a cover of the Temptations classic), which was a top twenty American hit for Rita. Still, this is a British compilation.

As an introduction to Rita's music, this is wonderful. If you only want a single CD of Rita's music, this is a good one to choose.

No doubt this collection of Rita Coolidge hits is well worth the price. BUT why is it that MY CREW does not appear on any other CD than Lady's Not For Sale? MY CREW is the first song I heard by Rita and remains my most favorite. It was the 'B' side of FEVER and considered a 2-sided hit per Billboard data. The song speaks of committment, comradry, teamwork, etc., and perhaps a touch of constructive dependency in all walks of life.