The title of
The Collector's Series, Vol. 1 makes the compilation seem as if it's filled with
Celine Dion rarities, but that's not entirely true. There are some oddities here, such as "The Power of the Dream" from the opening ceremony of the 1996 Olympics, but the album is really a way to fill gaps left by
Dion's hits collection,
All the Way: A Decade of Song -- the many duets, French and Spanish songs, and previously unheard in the U.S. tracks are here to pad out the running time. As such, it's a real hodgepodge, with singles like "Where Does My Heart Beat Now" and "Falling Into You" overshadowing the rest of the album. Perhaps casual fans will want this as a way of getting the glaring omissions from the hits collection, but it has too many inconsequential obscurities to make it easy listening for them. So, it does wind up being more for the collectors -- but even they will probably wonder why it couldn't be nothing but rarities, which would have served them better. A real mixed bag, then. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine