The best of Krall, Fordham & Imbruglia

2007 is nearing its end. The days are shorter and the nights are longer. Everything we do now seems geared towards the Holiday Season and the coming year. And just as with what happens year after year, the enticements to indulge oneself have become more tempting. The urge now is to spend and spend as the stores put out merchandise that get more and more inviting by the day.

It is a wonderful time for music lovers. This is the period when the big guns start coming out with their new recordings in anticipation of the gift-giving and the extra money that goes around during the end of the year. The result is a harvest of great albums that can send fans drooling as they check out the titles available.

Some are new productions. Watch out for the latest from the beleaguered Britney Spears, upcoming Manila visitor Josh Groban, Matchbox 20, Foo Fighters and others. Others are hit collections known as “Best of….” albums. This is when big name artists compile cuts from previously released CDs. A great budget saver, this device enables fans to own original copies of their favorites without having to spend a fortune on several albums with only one or two good tracks.

Here are some new Best of... CDs which I think are among the best in this year’s batch. Coincidentally, they are all albums by great female artists who rose to prominence in recent times. The Very Best of Diana Krall, Songbook: Julia Fordham and Glorious The Singles 97-07 by Natalie Imbruglia.

The extraordinarily talented Diana Krall is probably the most pop among all jazz artists active in the business nowadays. Her albums can be found in the pop charts or competing with a pop act for a Grammy trophy and you can find Diana herself joining the rockers at Lilith Fair. I guess the reason for this crossover appeal is she can take any song and break it down to its simplest. Then her tones, low but clear, take over. As a result she is always warm and intimate whether singing with a full orchestra, a jazz trio or simply accompanying herself on the piano. Besides, you have to admit that she has this great knack for picking out the right songs.

The Very Best of Diana Krall is her first retrospective release. The contents come from six albums she recorded over these past 14 years, The Look of Love, Love Scenes, When I Look in Your Eyes, All for You, From This Moment On and Live in Paris.

I missed When I Look in Your Eyes but the CD has the previously unreleased tracks of You Go to My Head, Only the Lonely and The Heart of Saturday Night plus ‘S Wonderful, Peel Me a Grape, Pick Yourself Up, Frim Fram Sauce, Let’s Fall in Love, The Look of Love, East of the Sun (West of the Moon), I’ve Got You Under My Skin, All or Nothing at All, Let’s Face the Music and Dance, Little Girl Blue and Fly Me to the Moon.

Songbook: Julia Fordham. Just in case you do not know. Although her rendition was truly sweet and lovely, Love Moves in Mysterious Ways is not an original by Nina. It was first recorded by Fordham and her version, jazzy and earthy, is included in Songbook. This collection was made expressly for the Filipino market. Julia has even written a special dedication. That means that buyers are assured of getting only their favorites when they buy the album.

The British chanteuse is known for her incredible vocal range and expressive delivery and everything here is excellent for emo moments. The other cuts are Falling Forward, Happy Ever After, Girlfriend, Lovin’ You, Something Right, Invisible War, Melt, Porcelain, The Naked Truth, Where Does the Time Go, Someone to Watch Over Me, Concrete Love, One of the Boys and Towerblock.

Glorious The Singles, 97-07 by Natalie Imbruglia. The truly gorgeous Imbruglia still has to attain the same degree of success enjoyed by Krall or Fordham. She is however already assured of a place in history if we are to believe the rumor that Prince William of the UK wrote love letters to her. So it follows that the hits in her CD are mixed in with five new songs including the title cut and Be with You.

But that is not a problem. Anybody who has played the most popular song of the ’90s over and over again these past 10 years can always use another copy of Torn, and perhaps also of Shiver. It might also be nice to once more listen to Counting Down the Days, Big Mistake, That Day, Wrong Impression, Smoke, Wishing I was There and Beauty on the Fire. The other new titles are Amelia, Against the Wall and Stuck on the Moon.