Most of the recent attention on Whitney Houston has focused on her March no-shows, at the Oscars and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony.

But with the Tuesday release of Whitney — The Greatest Hits, Houston will find out whether those well publicized incidents have affected her popularity with music buyers.

Also out Tuesday is Ear-Resistible, the latest release from Motown legends the Temptations, and a best- of collection from '70s and '80s funk star Rick James.

Whitney — The Greatest Hits is a two-disc, 36 track collection separated into "Cool Down" and "Throw Down" halves. The "Cool Down" disc includes ballads culled from the singer's 15-year career, including "Saving All My Love for You" (1985) and "Run to You" (1993). Disc One also includes the new tracks "Same Script, Different Cast," a duet with R&B singer Deborah Cox, and "Could I Have This Kiss Forever," on which she teams with Latin-pop sensation Enrique Iglesias. "Same Script, Different Cast" is at #28 on the Billboard R&B/Hip-Hop singles chart.

Disc Two, titled "Throw Down," comprises the superstar singer's uptempo singles and dance mixes, including "How Will I Know" and "I'm Every Woman." It also features a Jonathan Peters remix of "My Love Is Your Love" (1999) and a Hex Hector remix of "Heartbreak Hotel" (1998), which also features R&B singers Faith Evans and Kelly Price.

Some of those mixes also are on a vinyl-only set — Whitney — The Unreleased Mixes — which was released April 25.

The LP includes two new versions of "If I Told You That," which originally appeared on Houston's 1998 album, My Love Is Your Love. The first, a duet with George Michael, was produced by Rodney Jerkins and Jon Douglas. The second is a remix of the album version of the song.

The other new track on Whitney — The Greatest Hits is "Fine," mixed by former A Tribe Called Quest member Q- Tip, Lucy Pearl's Raphael Saadiq and rapper/producer DJ Quik.

The Temptations Ear-Resistible, meanwhile, consists mainly of romantic ballads, including "I'm Here" (RealAudio excerpt ), which is at #47 on the R&B/Hip-Hop singles chart. The album marks the group's 40th year in the music business and also includes the topical song "Why" and "Elevator Eyes," an ode to scoping out members of the opposite sex, written by Otis Williams, the sole original member of the group.

Williams said he thinks contemporary listeners will like the album as much as fans of the group's classic material do.

"We're not going to put any fillers on our albums," he said. "Every tune on our albums is going to have some merit. Hopefully, you'll listen to it and say 'Mmmm-hmmm.' Next track: 'Yep!' Next track: 'Oh, I thought I liked that one, but I like this one better!' "

Funkmeister James' greatest success came with his 1981 album Street Songs, which featured the hits "Give It to Me Baby" and "Superfreak," which rapper MC Hammer used as the basis for his 1990 smash "U Can't Touch This."

Rick James: The Millennium Collection includes both of those hits, as well as the hits "Mary Jane" (1978) and "Bustin' Out" (1979).