Artist:Celine Dion

　　Albums: All The Way - A Decade of Song

　　Phil Spector, the genius producer behind suchclassic '60s hits as "You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin' "and "Be My Baby," devised a production strategycalled Wall of Sound in which all the instruments on arecord were put in the service of one massive sonicblanket. Celine Dion's records work on a similarprinciple. Her songs are slathered in huge timpaniand heavy orchestral arrangements. But where Spector aimed to sonically approximate themessy emotions his singers were feeling, Dion and her legion of hack music biz professionals(most notoriously, producer David Foster and songwriter Diane Warren) meticulously fashioneach bit of bombast merely so it fits unobtrusively and inoffensively into the background ofour lives.

　　Not one of her albums has thus repaid close attention and, unfortunately, All the Way ... ADecade of Song, her long-awaited greatest hits-plus, is a lot more of the same. You'd think agreatest hits album would be the place to cherry-pick those moments that have reached outand touched you. For sure, the Irish pipes that open "My Heart Will Go On (Love Theme from"Titanic")" pluck at the heartstrings as they conjure the memory of that doomed luxury liner.And "It's All Coming Back to Me Now" is a camp masterstroke. The way the piano tinkles outlesout the theme or fun little touches like the drum crash after "thought you were history withthe slamming of the door" make up in thrilling melodrama what the song lacks in rhythmicthrust.

　　But practically everywhere else, the dull background noise eventually annoys you in theforeground. Right off the bat, the well-tempered synthesizer intro to "The Power of Love" isliterally unlistenable, hitting the ears only when she belts "Cuz I'm your lady... " The musicalbackdrop to "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face" is so vague that it barely registers asanything at all, much less a cover. Her reprehensible "duet" with Frank Sinatra's voice, "All theWay", doesn't kick in until Ol' Blue Eyes gets resurrected.

　　In every one of these examples, the focus is on Celine and her enormous voice. Becauseshe's so in love with her pipes, she won't surrender any of the song's identity or shape.Ultimately, then, what you walk away with (or eject from the CD player) is self-absorbedschlock.