Janet Jackson: 'The Best'

Exiled from the UK top ten since 2001's 'All For You', Janet Jackson has become better known for her disobedient nipples, the untimely death of her superstar sibling and her sartorial influence on a certain glossy-maned Geordie pop pony - who knew Chez wanted to be part of the Rhythm Nation? - than her music. But, lest we forget, MJ's lil' sis has been a pretty significant artist over the past quarter-century. A brief CV recap: worldwide album sales of 100m, 19 UK top ten hits, half a dozen Grammys and an acknowledged influence on the likes of Beyoncé and Rihanna.

This definitive two-disc singles collection – her first career-spanning comp since 1995's Design Of A Decade – acts as a welcome reminder. Across the pond it's called Number Ones, but in Blighty it's been given the rather less specific title of The Best, presumably to prevent smarty pedants from pointing out that, actually my dear friend, Janet's never topped the UK singles chart. (1992's 'The Best Things In Life Are Free' and the following year's 'That's The Way Love Goes', both of which peaked in second position, are as close as she's come.) However, the tracklistings of the two albums are virtually identical, with the UK edition adding a pair of bonus cuts to the 34-song US version: a house remix of 'When I Think Of You' and the Motown pastiche 'Whoops Now', actually one of Janet's most charming moments.

Two complete CDs of Jackson, J may seem excessive to casual fans, but the quality of the music here more than justifies the collection's length. The first disc is essentially a testament to the sinewy dance-pop sound that Jackson crafted with longtime collaborators Jam and Lewis on her career-making albums Control (1986) and Rhythm Nation 1814 (1989). Two decades on, hits like 'Escapade' and 'What Have You Done For Me Lately' still sound terrific - beats as relentless as jabs from an Eastern European boxer, enough hooks to give the entire Jackson clan a fish supper, Janet making up for her limited vocal abilities with lashings of attitude. "When I was 17 I did what people told me / Did what my father said and let me mother mould me / But that was long ago / Now I'm in control," she sings on the aptly-titled 'Control' – and she keeps to her word. Even a seemingly gooey '80s ballad like 'Let's Wait Awhile' has a hard centre, as Janet informs her paramour that she won't be spreading her legs until she's good and ready. How things would change...

"You on the rise as you're touching my thighs," she groans on 'If', the opening track on disc two. Having got the control she craved, Janet set about broadening her horizons on her '90s and '00s albums, which means, yes, lots of sex for which the word "moist" can't help springing to mind. However, running alongside her preoccupation with all things carnal was a greater willingness to experiment musically, with the singles from 1993's Janet to 2001's All For You taking in everything from classic balladry ('Again') to furious funk ('Scream') to worldbeat ('Runaway) to Joni Mitchell-sampling R&B ('Got 'Til It's Gone') to hints of folk-rock ('Someone To Call My Lover'). However, when she fancied Janet could still ride a groove - nasty or otherwise - as dancey delights like 'Together Again', 'Go Deep' and 'All For You' prove.

Wisely, The Best doesn't attempt to disguise Janet's post-All For You decline, making just one selection apiece from each of her last three albums. 'Call On Me' from 2007's 20.Y.0. is an inessential duet with Nelly, but 'All Nite (Don't Stop)' is a suitably lewd inclusion from her post-Nipplegate disc Damita Jo and last year's 'Feedback' remains a Shoulda Been Smash, if only for Janet's boast that she's "something heavy like a first-day period". The Best ends with 'Make Me', a solitary new track which only confirms what fans have known all along: Janet needs to take her dancing shoes off that couch if she wants to start scoring hits again. As this consistently entertaining, sometimes surprising and often thrilling collection makes clear, she once had quite a knack for it.