#1 Hits [Box] - The Countdown Singers

This CD set contains 36 of the biggest hits from the late '90s and 2000-2001. The only catch is that these songs are performed by the Countdown Singers, a group of session musicians who ape any sort of music that they need to. This can be incredibly effective at some moments, and hilariously bad at others. For example, the cover of Missy Elliott's "Hot Boyz" does an admirable job of finding voices that sound like Elliott and Timbaland, but it falls apart because the rappers are not quite good enough to pull it off. The cover of "Maria Maria" has some incredible singing on it, but their attempts to imitate everything down to Wyclef Jean's little side comments makes the track more than a little ridiculous. But at other points, such as the Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera covers, the songs are imitated note-perfect by the Countdown Singers' array of excellent female vocalists. This is a cost-efficient way to collect these songs together under one purchase, but the fact that none of these are the original versions may be a major problem for some listeners. They may be able to find singers who sound a lot like the originals, but given the choice between the real Macy Gray and Countdown's version, most people would probably go with the real thing. Also, any swearing in the original versions is cut out in favor of mere silence (although there is a very audible "F word" at the beginning of "Hot Boyz"), which may appeal to some and may turn off others. Finally, these versions are just not as good, no matter how much they may sound like the originals. On some of the more manufactured pop songs it does not really matter, but a lot of these songs had much more emotion to begin with. Anyone who just wants these songs without caring about who performed them should invest in this, otherwise this is probably avoidable despite how much effort they obviously put into it. ~ Bradley Torreano, All Music Guide