Phil Spector, the genius producer behind such classic '60s hits as "You've

Lost That Lovin' Feelin' " and "Be My Baby," devised a production strategy

called Wall of Sound in which all the instruments on a record were put in

the service of one massive sonic blanket. Celine Dion's records work on a

similar principle. Her songs are slathered in huge timpani and heavy

orchestral arrangements. But where Spector aimed to sonically approximate

the messy emotions his singers were feeling, Dion and her legion of hack

music biz professionals (most notoriously, producer David Foster and

songwriter Diane Warren) meticulously fashion each bit of bombast merely so

it fits unobtrusively and inoffensively into the background of our lives.

Not one of her albums has thus repaid close attention and, unfortunately,

All The Way ... A Decade of Song, her long-awaited greatest

hits-plus, is a lot more of the same. You'd think a greatest hits album

would be the place to cherry-pick those moments that have reached out and

touched you. For sure, the Irish pipes that open "My Heart Will Go On (Love

Theme From "Titanic")" (RealAudio excerpt) pluck at the

heartstrings as they conjure the memory of that doomed luxury liner. And

"It's All Coming Back to Me Now" (RealAudio excerpt)

is a camp masterstroke. The way the piano

tinkles out the theme or fun little touches like the drum crash after

"thought you were history with the slamming of the door" make up in

thrilling melodrama what the song lacks in rhythmic thrust.

But practically everywhere else, the dull background noise eventually

annoys you in the foreground. Right off the bat, the well-tempered

synthesizer intro to "The Power of Love" is literally unlistenable, hitting

the ears only when she belts "Cuz I'm your lady... ." The musical backdrop

to "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face" (RealAudio excerpt)

is so vague that it barely

registers as anything at all, much less a cover. Her reprehensible "duet"

with Frank Sinatra's voice, "All The Way" (RealAudio excerpt),

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. Because she'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-absorbed schlock.