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9 of 13 found the following review helpful:
 Far from "Best Of" Apr 15, 2005
In 2003, actress/pop starlet Mandy Moore stunned the musical world by releasing a solid, mature covers album -- wow, it was, like, so different from the forgettable bubblegum she had released in order to get her foot in the door. That makes "Best Of" a deceptive title for this tepid gooey collection.
The first several tracks are the aforementioned bubblegum, generally cloying pop tunes that express teen longing and adoration, such as "Candy" and "Walk Me Home." The fluffiness of these songs is not helped by Moore's vocals -- while she has a good voice, she sounds very young in the early songs. A few soundtrack songs are tacked in, such as the competant "Only Hope" (from her screen debut "A Walk To Remember") and pleasant "Secret Love" (from"Mona Lisa Smile").
But things perk up when Moore's "Coverage" songs come on -- she sounds smoother, more assured, and far more mature. The songs are covers of songs by Todd Rundgren ("Can We Still Be Friends?"), XTC ("Senses Working Overtime"), Carly Simon ("I Feel The Earth Move") and Joe Cocker ("Have a Little Faith In Me." She retains the "feel" of the original, while shifting her vocals from mellow to rock-ish, depending on what the song needs.
There is also an accompanying DVD, which includes several of Moore's music videos. The good thing is that we have some live footage of Moore singing "Drop the Pilot," "Have A Little Faith In Me," "Moonshadow," and "Can We Still Be Friends." The bad thing is that the music videos for soppy teenpop like "Cry" is also on the DVD.
Moore is a good singer, there's no question about that -- she has some very good musical taste and vocal talent, and she does justice to the songs she covers. But unfortunately this collection appears to be a last minute cash in, since she left Sony in the past year. At least "Best Of" shows just how much Moore has grown as a singer.
The early pop is virtually unlistenable -- as sugary and lightweight as a giant wad of cotton candy, with songwriting that could have been churned out of the Big Generic Love Song Machine. And while Moore did not make the songs on the second half, she chose well-written classic rock and pop songs by respected musicians.
Moore's vocals also grow up in the most recent songs. In songs like "Candy" and "Crush," she sounds like what she was -- a teenage girl whose voice hadn't fully matured yet. But in the most recent songs, Moore's voice has a richer sound and wider range. And she puts plenty of passion into her vocal delivery, something that is definitely lacking in the early songs. Since Moore reportedly detests her first few CDs, it's not surprising.
"Best Of" is definitely a lie. While it has a few tracks of Mandy Moore's that are well-done, the main focus is on the gooey love ballads done years ago. Here's hoping that a few albums down the road, Moore can put out a true "Best Of" album.
 Pretty Good Video Collection Dec 10, 2004
It's awesome that this set includes twelve music videos (four live ones). It is a little bit of a bummer that "Only Hope" couldn't have been taken from the scene in the "A Walk To Remember" film where Mandy Moore's character performs the emotional ballad to her future soulmate during a school play. However, this is a good collection as a whole; spanning music from all four of her albums. The videos for "Seventeen" (made for the Phillipines) & "On The Line" (with two members of Nsync, one member of BB Mak, & this other male Arist) would have been awesome!
Mandy Moore, without a doubt, is one of the finest Artists out there. She's classy, talented, beautiful, kind-hearted, & so much more.
1 of 6 found the following review helpful:
 Best of Nov 20, 2004
This is a nice cd, not too overrated. It seems as though it is the new trend to bring out greatest hits cds: britney, robbie, eminem, mandy etc
16 of 18 found the following review helpful:
Is This a TREND now? Nov 13, 2004
I love Mandy Moore, she is a wonderful singer, and a very good role model for kids and teens. She is very conservative, and doesn't need to undress to get attention. But why is she releasing a "Best of" DVD, and a CD so fast? With her future shining, she can be in the spotlight for another 10 to 20 years. One thing I hope is that this doesn't mean she will be quiting singing. I love her voice.
**Britney Spears, too has a Greatest Hits CD as well. It has all of her chart toppers, except "From the Bottom of my broken Heart", and "Don't Let Me Be The Last To Know".
I just hope Christina and Jessica don't follow this new trend.
**New: Sony dropped Mandy from their record label, and is releasing a "BEST OF" album under Sony's label as their last Mandy CD. Mandy is now with Warner Brothers Records, due to Sony's high expectations of Record Sales.
We still LOVE YOU Mandy**
I would still give this DVD 5 stars because it will contain all her music videos, and her doing a few AOL sessions, from her newest album, "Coverage".
I just wish Mandy MOore did a music Video for my favorite song, "The Way To My Heart". But you can't get everything, can you?
I'm defenitely psyched to be owning this DVD when it's released.
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