Depending on where you live, Bif Naked either has five or five million records out. In case you missed them the first time around, the reigning queen at Her Royal Majesty's records has released a best of retrospective to celebrate her ten-year tenure as Canada's punchiest bad girl.

But how bad ass Bif really is has been a bone of contention since she first landed on the scene in 1994. She claims that a few tattoos does not a heathen make. And despite her brusque appearance and the relentless P.R. machine that dogs her every move, there might be some truth to that notion. On Essentially Naked, it turns out Ms. Naked is less a hoodlum's dream girl than she is an upstanding member of the pretty good songwriters club.

Forget for a moment about "Spaceman" or the rowdy, self-affirmative "I Love Myself Today" co-written by professional wunderkind Desmond Child, both of which are catchy though world's apart when it comes to production. Also forget that while her backing band is spot on in their role, no one really stands out as a virtuoso. After all, this is Bif's band and we can forgive her for that. What's really surprising about this compendium is just how many 'hits' Bif has once you get past the first couple throwaway tunes. And how diverse her musical range really is.

Check it out, for being punk royalty, a hefty bulk of her work is mid tempo and highly personal. "Daddy's Getting Married" and "Lucky" are both stand out tracks that both established and solidified Bif Naked's claim to the treasure of stardom, but neither shock or titillate. Which is perhaps Bif's strongest card, that she's able to overcome appearances and concentrate on making music that matters to her without having to play the chick thing too overtly and too frequently. Well, to her and her co-writers, at least.

As this is a full retrospective, there's some spoken word selections from her 1997 prose Okenspay Ordway. Not as unbearable as it sounds, it gives a nice pause to the album and an insight into ever widening vision of the woman behind the music. There's also the requisite 'new song' that's short on lure and long on bore. Like most other best of's which pull the same stunt, the new material sounds slapped together and weak. "Rich and Filthy", with it's over the top modern references (seriously, has bling-bling entered the cool kid vernacular?) does little more than give the finger exercise while pressing the skip button. Ditto for "Back In The Day". Both songs are neither sincere nor compelling. They probably weren't expected to be.

The big bonus perk going for Essentially Naked is disc two, a separate DVD that features 13 of her videos. Hardcore Bif Naked fans will be happy to have these all in one easy to find place. Though there's no director commentary or personal recap (and not really much elaboration on the 'band plays live' theme), this is more than what most bands would offer up and a good supplement to disc one mirroring Bif's best moments visually.

Better than expected, Bif Naked's Essentially Naked covers a lot of ground. As far as the need for a 'best of' compilation, that's still debatable. But we're certainly no worse off for having Bif Naked's continued prescence around. All right, Bif, you win this round.

Bif Naked is currently on tour in Canada. For more info, check out www.bifnaked.com.