Greatest Hits

by Shania Twain

Overview

Just like the albums her husband/producer Mutt Lange produced for Def Leppard, Shania Twain's albums are designed to generate hit singles for two or three years, which means that each of her blockbuster records -- 1995's The Woman in Me, 1997's Come On Over, 2002's Up! -- already seem like greatest-hits records, since they're filled with huge hits. This makes assembling an actual greatest-hits album a little difficult, since not only is the material overly familiar, but there are so many hits that they're difficult to fit on a single-disc collection. Impressively, 2004's Greatest Hits -- the first compilation Shania has released in her career -- doesn't skimp in either the hits or its actual length. Weighing in at a whopping 21 tracks, it has every big hit from her career, bypassing just a handful of tracks (including anything from her eponymous 1993 debut, plus "God Bless the Child" from 1996 and "It Only Hurts When I'm Breathing" from 2004), none of which are greatly missed. The collection runs in reverse chronological order, beginning with the ballad "Forever and Always" from Up! then running through hits like "Man! I Feel Like a Woman!," "That Don' Impress Me Much," "You're Still the One," "Any Man of Mine" -- all in their most familiar radio mixes, which means pop mixes alternate with country mixes according to the song -- before ending with four new tracks (the gleefully goofy "Party for Two" is featured in two versions, a pop version with Sugar Ray's Mark McGrath and a country version with Billy Currington). Taken as a whole, this is a pretty impressive and consistent body of work -- sure, her hits can be slick, glossy, and silly, but they're infectious, irresistibly catchy, impeccably crafted, and most importantly, still tremendous fun after hundreds of plays. This isn't straight country, but it never pretends that it is. Instead, Twain and Lange poached the catchiest elements from arena rock and adult contemporary pop, peppered it with '90s pop culture references -- anything from bad hair days to Brad Pitt -- and developed a glorious, supersized sound that defined mainstream pop and country for nearly a decade. And, as this wonderful collection proves, Shania's hits not only defined their time, but transcend them, as this Greatest Hits is as fun as pop music can get.

Product Details

Release Date:	11/09/2004
Label:	Mercury Nashville
UPC:	0602498631416
catalogNumber:	000307202
Rank:	1084

Tracks

1. Forever and for Always
2. I'm Gonna Getcha Good!
3. Up!
4. Come on Over
5. Man! I Feel Like a Woman!
6. That Don't Impress Me Much
7. From This Moment On
8. Honey, I'm Home
9. You're Still the One
10. Don't Be Stupid (You Know I Love You)
11. Love Gets Me Every Time
12. No One Needs to Know
13. You Win My Love
14. (If You're Not in It for Love) I'm Outta Here!
15. The Woman in Me (Needs the Man in You)
16. Any Man of Mine
17. Whose Bed Have Your Boots Been Under?
18. Party for Two
19. Don't!
20. Party for Two
21. I Ain't No Quitter

Album Credits

Performance Credits

Shania Twain   Primary Artist,Vocals,Background Vocals,Hand Clapping,Vocal Harmony
Matt Rollings   Piano
Michael Thompson   Bouzouki,Electric Guitar,Slide Guitar,E-bow
Glen Duncan   Fiddle
Joe Chemay   Electric Bass,Bass Guitar,Fretless Bass Guitar
Bruce Bouton   Pedal Steel Guitar
Larry Byrom   Acoustic Guitar,Electric Drums,Slide Guitar
B.J. Cole   Dobro,Pedal Steel Guitar
Billy Crain   Slide Guitar
Stuart Duncan   Fiddle
Larry Franklin   Fiddle
Paul Franklin   Pedal Steel Guitar,pedabro
Rob Hajacos   Fiddle
John Hobbs   Organ,Wurlitzer
Dann Huff   Guitar,Electric Guitar,Rhythm Guitar,Electric Sitar,Talk Box,6-string bass,wah wah guitar,Guitar (12 String Electric)
John Hughey   Pedal Steel Guitar
David Hungate   Bass
Robert John "Mutt" Lange   Background Vocals,Hand Clapping,Vocal Harmony
Paul Leim   Percussion,Drums
Carl Marsh   Strings
Brent Mason   Guitar,Electric Guitar
Terry McMillan   Harmonica,Harp,cowbell,Foot Stomping
Joey Miskulin   Accordion
Nashville String Machine   Strings
Michael Omartian   Piano
Joe Spivey   Fiddle
Arthur Stead   Organ,Piano,Wurlitzer
Biff Watson   Acoustic Guitar,Electric Guitar,Rhythm Guitar,Guitar (Nylon String)
John Willis   Acoustic Guitar,Banjo,Bouzouki,Mandolin
Jonathan Yudkin   Fiddle,Mandolin,Violin,Cello
Aubrey Haynie   Fiddle
Nick Keca   Hand Clapping
John Barlow Jarvis   Piano,Wurlitzer
David Hamilton   Strings
Irish Film Orchestra   Strings
Mark McGrath   Vocals
Billy Currington   Vocals
Diamond Duggal   Percussion
Simon Duggal   Percussion

Technical Credits

Terry Manning   Engineer
Ronn Huff   String Arrangements
Shania Twain   Composer
Jeff Balding   Engineer
Bob Bullock   Engineer
Dann Huff   Sound Effects,Tic Tac
Robert John "Mutt" Lange   Arranger,Composer,Producer,Audio Production
Carl Marsh   String Arrangements
Brian Masterson   Engineer
Warren Peterson   Engineer
Ron Reynolds   Engineer
Olle Romo   Programming,Engineer
Nick Keca   Engineer
Lee Groitzsch   Engineer
Rob Degroff   Engineer,Technical Maintenance
Gavin Greenaway   String Arrangements
David Hamilton   String Arrangements
Mike Carroll   Engineer
Bethany Newman   Art Direction