After three albums and one remix album, CCM superstar Rachael Lampa has released her first greatest hits album on Word Records. But as with most hits records, the question arises: Is this new release worth shelling out the money for if you own her previous recordings?

This 21-year-old pop vocalist has accomplished quite a lot throughout her musical career, as well as earning the title of "The Christian Britney Spears." It seems to me that she keeps churning out hit singles left and right, and this album only showcases that fact. Starting off this collection is one of her first singles called "Blessed," a soothing ballad that describes how blessed each and every one of us is whether we realize it or not. Other ear-catching tracks include the disco-flavored "Shaken," "Always Be My Home," which shows a somewhat softer side to Rachael's soprano vocals, her Latin-laced single "Live For You," the Asian-flavored anthem "Day Of Freedom," the peppy, upbeat "God Loves You," and the edgy, rock tune "When I Fall," which shows a bit of a different mixture of music than many of us are used to hearing from Lampa. This album also includes two remixes of her songs "Savior Song" and "Day Of Freedom" from her 2002 remix album Blur.

Blessed... has a lot of good points. One of these pluses is that it gives listeners a chance to hear Rachael's angelic voice as it has progressed and matured over the past half-decade since her 2000 debut. Although, it would have been nice if she had a brand new track to give fans and even first time listeners another reason to buy this album. This is often what remix songs are used for, too, but those included here were also previously available on another Lampa project. The only song that was never on one of Rachael's albums is "There Is Still A Dream," which is a duet with Aaron Neville from a compilation entitled One that had been released in 2000.

Overall, I have to give props to Rachael's newest installment. It includes all her hit songs as well as two catchy remixes, to offer a nice sampler from her catalog to make the fans happy. If you're a diehard fan of Rachael or if you are a first time listener, this is one album you definitely want to check out!

- Review date: 10/11/06, written by Laura Sproull