| This 21-track anthology, The Very Best of Cher--anchored by her 1998 international mega-success "Believe" and its equally club-savvy collaborations with producers Mark Taylor and Brian Rawlings, "Song for the Lonely" and "A Different Kind of Love Song"--is indeed the first to contain all her No. 1 hits, stretching back to her epochal 1965 duet with Sonny Bono on the faux-Dylan "I Got You Babe". And if it short-changes her Phil Spector-rooted origins and a true perspective on her 1960s and 1970s career (though kitsch classic chart-toppers "Dark Lady", "Half-Breed" and "Gypsies, Tramps and Thieves" are all here) to focus on her string of 1980s and 1990s pop successes in service of writers such as Diane Warren ("If I Could Turn Back Time") and Desmond Child ("Just Like Jesse James"), it's good to remember that, according to the pop soothsayers, none of them were even supposed to happen, let alone make her an icon for a whole new generation. It's a tribute to sheer, fashion-defying willpower--and as unlikely an argument for the notion of "the singer, not the song" as one is likely to find. --Jerry McCulley |
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