Diamond Needle

Continuing with hits collections (and being careful to avoid that dreaded term - you know the one, begins with 'greatest' and ends with 'hits', despite many such CDs being neither great nor hit-packed). The latter brings us squarely on to The Best of Hilary Duff; whilst her greatness as a popstar is up for debate, she's not had many hits; is this collection worth a try?

As a sidenote, I'm reviewing the American edition of the album, since the European/UK edition isn't available yet.


The Best of Hilary Duff
This 'best of' collection will try and fool you into thinking it contains the highlights of Hilary Duff's musical career; I should begin this review by stating that on no account does it do any such thing. It contains a selection (oddly, not all) of Duff's singles, many of which have been far from her best work. With that in mind we start out with 'Reach Out', an unusually-shoddy Ryan Tedder production. Tedder's work is so often glossy, subtle and synthy; this tired retread of Depeche Mode's 'Personal Jesus' (which Jamelia did a much better job of sampling on the almighty 'Beware Of The Dog') is a bit of a slap in the face for the listener; more a b-side than a hits collection-leading single and opening track.

Moving on then, to 'Holiday', the second and final of the collection's two newies, and another Tedder moment. In sharp contrast with Reach, Holiday is glorious; simplistic and beautiful, boasting numerous hooks and crisp production. Hilary's vocal has been cleverely employed here; she may not have the biggest pipes but she more than holds her own against the beat without having to resort to studio robotics. A further strength is the song's lyrical content; 'you took a holiday from us / if your heart went down forever / should've told me where it was' she sighs with great melodrama. This is intense pop at it's best, both youthful and sophisticated.

The three singles from Duff's much underrated 2007 set Dignity follow, playing out in reverse order. First is 'Stranger', a harshly overlooked gem which whilst failing to make waves amongst the public proved to Hilary's not-inconsiderable fanbase she was not going to be written-off if she had any say in it. The pulsating, hard-hitting electro-rock beat compliments a deliberately cold vocal; the high point of the song comes when the music disappears for a moment, allowing Duff to welcome in the second verse acapella with a scorned quiz of 'did I ever do anything that was this cruel to you?'. On 'With Love', the Dignity lead-off (and that album's only true hit), much of the same is in evidence, and although the song initially makes less impact with it's slight non-event of a chorus, it offers a middle eight to challenge the best of them. 'Play With Fire', a buzz (read: flop) single, closes the dignified (sorry) trilogy. It's better than With Love, offering a cool, buzzy beat and a sexy faux-dangerous chorus. All three were co-written by pop genius Kara DioGuardi, whose skills both with a pen and at the mixing desk have made for some of the most exciting mainstream music of recent times; certainly she seems at home with Duff.

'Wake Up', written by Hilary alongside the Madden brothers Joel and Benji of Good Charlotte fame, is a cute, light effort with a pre-party vibe which works nicely; the lyrics of the cut are poorly-misguided ('London, Paris, maybe Tokyo; there's something going on everywhere I go tonight'; perhaps Hilary brought out the Disney in the Maddens) but overall its likeability factor makes it worth repeat listenings. 'Fly' marks the return of DioGuardi's golden hand, and it shows; the song is as tailor-made as any ever could be for an arena audience, providing Duff with her most rocky outing yet. It's not a sound our girl would be advised to do an album's worth of, but as a one-off it's great - and works perfectly on a collection such as this.

It seems to be the trend of late to remix hits for these compilations, but it's a surprise that the song on here found in 'new for 08' form is Hilary's best single, the mighty 'Come Clean'. However, whilst we've lost a classic we've gained a three-minute slice of furious electro brilliance; Duff's vocal blends perfectly with the rave-style beat to the extent that you might even forget about the original's opposingly innocent tones. 'So Yesterday' follows, or at least it does if you can bear to absorb its dated tweeny vibe without throwing your fingers at the skip button. 'Why Not', another cutesy outing which hit the top 20 of the Australian and British singles charts, works its youthful fun factor to it's advantage; the song is so pure and joyful that the primary-school lyrics barely even come into the equation.

The final two songs are remixes of the set's two new openers; don't run, though! Whilst Richard Vission's club mix of 'Reach Out' doesn't merit repeat listenings, Bermudez & Chico's reworking of 'Holiday' absolutely does, for the sole reason that it does not attempt to drag the mournful original onto the dancefloor against its will, but instead merely adds radio-friendly bass and electronica, closing the collection on a hugely addictive note; clearly Duff goes by the mantra of saving the best for last.

Hilary Duff's career has been a rollercoaster; she has suffered as many chart disappointments as she has successes, and she's had to battle to lose the pre-teen audience stigma so long attached to her. However, she's a fighter; she put out an album the likes of Kylie Minogue or any other contemporary disco princess could only dream of with 2007's Dignity, and she's got two perfect collaberators in the form of Ryan Tedder and, in particular, the failproof Kara DioGuardi. And with a departure from the limiting, useless Hollywood Records on the horizon, and a truly strong, to-the-point hits collection under her belt, she may finally get the chance to prove her worth in a scrappy industry keen to dump anybody in favour of the new girl on the block. If anyone deserves a chance, it's Hilary.