LeAnn Rimes was only 13 years old when she experienced her breakthrough with studio album Blue in 1996. She garnered worldwide attention for her incredible voice, which was more mature than anyone would have expected from a teenager. She went on to score her biggest hit to date, How Do I Live, in 1997 and the song still lives on today. Rimes released her last studio album Spitfire in 2013 and now a new collection of her greatest hits has been released.
All-Time Greatest Hits features 20 of Rimes’ biggest hits from her career so far. The songs span over the last 19 years and are sequenced on this release in chronological order. The album opens with Blue, a cover of the Bill Mack song, and it’s one of the most traditional country moments included here. Over the course of Rimes’ career to date she’s moved around musical genres with varying degrees of success.
The big hitters are of course present here. How Do I Live still remains a power-ballad classic whilst Can’t Fight The Moonlight, one of three songs included on this release from the Coyote Ugly soundtrack, remains as catchy and addictive as it did on its initial release. Surprisingly though it’s some of Rimes’ lesser-known songs that are the standouts on this collection. The gentle country of Probably Wouldn’t Be This Way, taken from 2005 album This Woman, is a definite highlight as is the feisty Nothin’ Better To Do from 2007 album Family.
Elsewhere on the collection Rimes really shows off her vocal talents on her version of the classic Unchained Melody. She also proves that she can sing with the best of them on the powerful I Need You, which was one of her first forays into pop and embraces R&B lite on the UK hit Life Goes On. An acappella rendition of Amazing Grace is one of the strongest moments on the album and Rimes sounds absolutely incredible. The control she has over her voice is remarkable and it sends shivers down your spine.
It can sometimes be easy to forget just what a talent Rimes is as her personal life so often steals the spotlight from her music. All-Time Greatest Hits refocuses the attention on her voice and it’s a timely reminder of what a great singer Rimes really is. Her catalogue may not be consistent but when she gets it right, she’s a force to be reckoned with. Rimes hasn’t had a whole lot of chart success in the past few years but if she can keep the focus on her music she’s got a good chance of a comeback in the future.
