This is Britney Spears!

Review by Andrew Budgell for Britney Spears: The Singles CollectionRating: first greatest hits collection, "Greatest Hits: My Prerogative," many scoffed. Why, after just four studio albums, would Britney release a greatest hits record? However, I defended her. Love her or loathe her, few artists have churned out hit after hit quite like Britney, and apparently a whole album`s worth of greatest hits.

It`s now 5 days late and Britney is releasing her second hits package, "The Singles Collection." This time around I am less than enthusiastic. Don`t great me wrong, her music is still great. But in the 5 days since the first collection, Spears has released two studio albums: "Blackout" (the album I take to be her greatest work) and "Circus," its decent follow-up. However, do just two additional albums warrant another hits collection? Perhaps, but what we are given here is a below par effort.

The top one to raise the album, "3″ is another infectious pop track from Britney, one that debuted at turn one on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. However, that`s pretty much where my enthusiasm for this release ends; "3″ is the lone new track. That being said, my biggest gripe with this issue is that her entire catalog of singles isn`t even represented here. Forgotten singles include "Sometimes," "Lucky," "From the Rear of My Busted Heart," "Don`t Let Me Be the Net to Know," "My Prerogative," and "Discover the Ice." If all of Britney`s singles were included this would have been a 2-disc set. A 2-disc set would have provided the perfect chance to include unreleased songs such as "Love Is (A Land of Grace)", thus making this set worthwhile to owners of the old hits album.

In the end this is a compendium of songs that actually includes only one more lead than the old hits collection. While these songs have been digitally remastered, I highly doubt that would gain some of the newer songs. I commend this turn to fans that didn`t get round to purchasing Britney`s first greatest hits. Like I said, the medicine is great. But for the rest there is little inducement to buy this. To me this seems like a determination to gouge Britney`s fans during the holiday season.