17 tracks taken from her five studio albums and three brand new specially recorded songs.

It seems to me as though Texan born Kelly Clarkson has been around for a very long time but in fact she is still just 30 years old. As a 20 year old, she was the winner of the very first season of American Idol and has since become the most successful artist to graduate from that show. She went on to release her debut album, 'Thankful', the following year and since then has released albums on a regular two year basis, shifting well over 20 million units in the process. I guess it was only a matter of time before a compilation saw the light of day but hardly surprising that it was timed for release in mid-November last year, just in time for Christmas.

'Greatest Hits....Chapter One' (she assures us there will be a Chapter Two) features 17 tracks taken from her five studio albums and three brand new specially recorded songs. It would have been nice had it included the 'Get Up (A Cowboys Anthem)' single that was recorded and released in 2012, used in an advertising campaign to promote the Dallas Cowboys American football team. What it does contain, however is a nice mix of heartfelt ballads ('Because Of You', 'Already Gone', 'Beautiful Disaster') and catchy pop songs infused with a hint of rock ('Since You Been Gone', 'My Life Would Suck Without You', 'Behind These Hazel Eyes', 'Never Again').

I'm sure everyone familiar with Ms Clarkson's work will have issues with the song selection, but there is no doubting the quality of the material we have been presented with. Each track has a hook to die for, the production values would settle a small country's national debt and to top it all the vocal performance throughout is nothing short of brilliant. The three new songs, 'Catch My Breath', 'People Like Us' and 'Don't Rush', fit in seamlessly, the latter featuring a duet with country legend Vince Gill and produced by none other than Dan Huff.

The 'Deluxe' edition is well worth picking up if you're a Kelly fan as it includes a bonus DVD featuring 14 promo videos, two of which are for songs that are not part of the CD collection.

Admittedly it is more pop than rock, so just buy it for the kids and sneak a quick listen when they are out of the house. A
tenner well spent I reckon.

Dave Bott