Vanessa Williams

Vanessa Williams managed to turn the disgrace of losing her Miss America title into a pretty good career as an actress, singer, and annoying shill for Radio Shack. The Best of Vanessa Williams, part of Mercury's 20th Century Masters - The Millennium Collection series, focuses on the vocal aspects of her talents and rounds up 11 of her hits for the label recorded between 1988 and 1997. She has two distinct specialties: the big ballad and the slinky, hip-hop-inspired dance track. Her biggest ballad is the smooth and somewhat saccharine "Save the Best for Last." It spent five weeks at number one in 1991 and was a real career-maker.

More diverse than Vanessa Williams' two previous albums, Sweetest Days finds the singer exploring jazz-influenced songs without giving up the type of boring, radio-minded fluff that had enabled her to sell millions of albums. The CD's standout track is "Ellamental," an irresistible R&B/jazz/hip-hop tribute to Ella Fitzgerald. (Much to her credit, Williams was insightful enough to praise the jazz legend while she was still alive instead of waiting until after her death.) She's almost as appealing on "Sister Moon" (a torchy Sting gem) and the Babyface contributions "You Can't Run" (which has a Sade-ish quality) and the haunting "Betcha Never."

On Everlasting Love, Vanessa Williams covers her favorite soul songs of the '70s, often with help from the London Session Orchestra. This is a classy set of material that straddles the line between faithful renditions and creative reinterpretations. The strummy folk-soul of the Isley Brothers' "Harvest for the World" is turned into jazz-funk for the dancefloor; the natural exuberance within "Never Can Say Goodbye" is toned down a few degrees, thanks in part to George Benson's guitar and James "D-Train" Williams' (!) backing vocals.

Vanessa Williams' Love Songs collects 12 of her smooth love ballads from across her career. The set includes two songs from 1988's The Right Stuff, three songs from 1991's The Comfort Zone (including the number one hit "Save the Best for Last"), three songs from 1997's Next, and a raft of rarities.