Kelly Clarkson - Greatest Hits: Chapter One review

Considering the sheer number of contestants who have graced the stages of Simon Cowell's TV juggernauts over the past decade, it's quite remarkable that it's the careers of both the USA and the UK's first ever Idol winners that are still in the rudest health.

Will Young topped the charts for the first time in eight years with 2011's return-to-form 'Echoes,' whilst other than a minor blip with the self-indulgent 'My December,' Kelly Clarkson has remained one of her generation's most bankable hit-makers ever since she stormed to glory back in 2002.

Celebrating her impressively enduring career, 'Greatest Hits: Chapter One' shows how she has managed to sustain her success far longer than the likes of Ruben Studdard, Fantasia and Taylor Hicks. Quite simply, she's released a string of killer pop singles.

The brilliantly defiant 'Since You've Been Gone' borrowed from the alt-rock of Yeah Yeah Yeahs and the feisty girl power pop of Pink to set the musical template for everyone from Katy Perry to Miley Cyrus. The just as anthemic 'Stronger (What Doesn't Kill You)' became an 'I Will Survive' for the iTunes generation with its believable theme of self-empowerment, whilst 'Because Of You' is the kind of tear-stained power ballad that many of the divas she grew up with would now give half of their vocal cords for.

But away from the likes of UK number one, 'My Life Would Suck Without You' and the Christina Aguilera-penned Top 10 first single proper, 'Miss Independent,' her first compilation also gives prominence to some of her best lesser-known material.

If the string-soaked 'Already Gone' had been released before similar Ryan Tedder co-writes such as Jordin Sparks' 'Battlefield' and Beyonce's 'Halo,' then it would surely have achieved a higher UK peak than No.66. Whilst the live version of the heartfelt 'Beautiful Disaster' rightly suggests that her under-rated debut album, 'Thankful,' is worth investigating too.

The Brat Pack-esque 80s pop of 'Catch My Breath,' the timeles! s country soul of Vince Gill collaboration 'Don't Rush' and the infectious ode to misfits that is 'People Like Us' are also pretty solid affairs which at least sound like they've been given more than the five seconds thought usually spared for new tracks on Greatest Hits.

Admittedly, there are a few misfires which could have been replaced by far superior releases such as the emotive soft-rock of 'Low' and the grungy 'Don't Waste Your Time.' 'A Moment Like This,' later recorded by Leona Lewis, is the kind of pure unadulterated schmaltz which has been repeated by nearly every talent show winner's single, whilst the virtually unlistenable shouting and screeching on 'Never Again' proves that Clarkson could do with reining it in every now and then.

But if the first American Idol can continue to release material as strong as featured on this first hits compilation, then we should expect an equally enjoyable Chapter Two sometime around 2022.