Singer/dancer/choreographer Paula Abdul hit the big time with the third single, "Straight Up," off this album, which sparked a string of hits that carried through to her follow-up. Despite having a slight voice, her voice is distinct and perfectly suited to this synthesized type of late-'80s dance-pop. "Cold Hearted" is insistent and catchy, "Forever Your Girl" is sweet and accessible, and "Opposites Attract" gives Abdul a chance to spar with the Wild Pair. There is some filler -- "Next to You," for example -- that hasn't aged as well as the better material, but overall this is a consistent album with some great dance-pop songs. Unfortunately, as Abdul and her material matured, her audience waned.© Bryan Buss /TiVo

It's kind of shocking to realize that it took Virgin and Paula Abdul six full seasons of American Idol to capitalize on her resurgence of fame, but they finally got around to exploiting her back catalog with the release of the 18-track Greatest Hits: Straight Up! in May 2007, just as the sixth season was about to draw to a close. It is what it says it is: a collection of her greatest hits, all 13 of her Billboard charting singles, plus five other album tracks. Of these, not all of them are huge hits and some aren't even that familiar. Abdul peaked early, with all of her biggest and best hits arriving on her 1988 debut, Forever Your Girl, which contained "Forever Your Girl," "Straight Up," "Cold Hearted," "The Way You Love Me," "Knocked Out," and "Opposites Attact," all of which are here, along with "One or the Other," also featured here. That means that Straight Up! has seven of the ten tracks from Forever Your Girl, a pretty high ratio, but it's only right that it dominates this hits compilation, because these are the songs that Abdul's fame was built upon. After that debut, her decline in popularity was pretty swift: her 1991 sophomore set, Spellbound, had four hits in "Rush, Rush," "The Promise of a New Day," "Blowing Kisses in the Wind," and "Vibeology," but none of them were as big or memorable as the singles from the debut, and when Straight Up! works its way toward them, it starts to loose momentum, just as Abdul's career did. She stumbled through 1995's Head Over Heels, as she tried to modernize her eternally chipper dance-pop, before disappearing from the spotlight until American Idol. Straight Up! charts this career arc -- minus the career revival, since she hasn't recorded a comeback album, after all -- with accuracy, generously sampling from all three albums, and if the selections from Forever Your Girl are undeniably still the highlights (and the reason to get this set) there are a couple of surprises along with the way, including how "The Promise of a New Day" and "Vibeology" stand as bright, colorful time capsules of early-'90s dance-pop and how slinky and seductive 1995's "My Love for Real" is. These aren't enough to offer a revisionist take on Abdul's recording career -- this hits set doesn't smash conventional wisdom, it cements it -- but as a summary of her years as a pop star, Greatest Hits: Straight Up! is as good as any hits disc ever could be.© Stephen Thomas Erlewine /TiVo

Paula Cole's songwriting and musical skills sharpened considerably on her second album, This Fire. Occasionally, she flirts a little too closely with Sarah McLachlan territory, but Cole has developed her own, subtly mature style, equally informed by textured electronics, light worldbeat influences, and soul-baring lyrics. "Where Have All the Cowboys Gone" may epitomize the sound of the album, but it only scratches the surface of what This Fire has to offer.© Stephen Thomas Erlewine /TiVo

This is another of the must-have classic albums by Milton Nascimento. Released in 1975, the album opens with the wonderful "Minas" (Novelli), a tribute to all sacred music traditions in the Minas Gerais state, which was deeply influential in Nascimento's sensibility. The album launched songs that became strong emotional hits: "Fé Cega, Faca Amolada," "Beijo Partido," the nostalgic "Saudades Dos Aviões da Panair," "Ponta de Areia," and "Paula E Bebeto." There's a preferential orchestral/choir treatment over the band's performances which strengthens the evocative bonds of an ancient Minas. © Alvaro Neder /TiVo

The only Paula Abdul album most listeners will need, Greatest Hits gathers almost all the singles from her first three albums in one place. The 16 tracks here include an amazing run of eight consecutive Top Ten hits, six of which reached number one, over a span of approximately three years (before more soulful, urban sounds began to conquer Abdul's audience). In most cases, the versions included are the 7" single edits, which often differed from the album cuts and are hence quite nice to have collected. The only questionable choice is that the Top 20 single "Will You Marry Me?" was left off in favor of an unnecessary "Megamix Medley," but it's hard to imagine most fans finding this anything more than a minor flaw. The songs still sound as slick and hyper-produced as ever, but they're also catchy and well-constructed, and it's no surprise they were hits in their era (which, nostalgia buffs will find, they evoke very well). All in all, a nicely executed package.© Steve Huey /TiVo