 |  | What a Pleasant Surprise! |  |
Lynn Anderson, from Grand Forks, North Dakota had 48 Billboard hits from 1967-1988. Each of the 24 tracks on this CD made the charts. There are no clinkers herein. This reviewer originally bought the album solely for the first track-"If I Kiss You (Will You Go Away)". The plan was to transfer it to my I pod for use at the gym. But as mentioned in the header, a pleasant surprise awaited the unwary listener. This is a quality release! Favorite tracks are always subjective, but besides "If I Kiss You", this reviewer especially liked "Big Girls Don't Cry", "Flattery Will Get You Everywhere", "Stay There `Til I Get There" and "Sing About Love". The only tracks that did not register were the overly upbeat "Listen to A Country Song" and "What a Man My Man Is". If the album has a weak spot, it lies in the appallingly hard to read informational jacket, set in small print against a feeble backdrop. That rant aside, "Lynn Anderson's Greatest Hits" is highly recommended. We all are familiar with those "Greatest Hits" releases that are nothing but teasers. LA's version is the real deal. So can "If I Kiss You (Will You Go Away)" carry the album? The response from this reviewer is "Yes!" Click those "Music Sampler" and "Add to Cart" buttons!
February 20, 2008I can feel a "soul to soul" connection when I listen to Lynn Anderson. I can literally feel her in the music...which is incredible. Lynn is the only artist that I can actually "feel her presence" in the music. I'm 21, and have been a fan of country music for a long time...Lynn was actually the first country singer I ever heard (and her album "Country Spotlight" was the first album I ever purchased). All of her songs sound great. Highly recommended CD. I have a lot of her records...which are totally awesome.
May 13, 2007| | | Only Missing one of my favorite songs | |
This is a great collection. One of my favorite songs that I remember from when I was young was Ride, Ride, Ride. I was disappointed that this song was not included on this CD. However, these are the originial recordings and a great collection of her songs.
April 15, 2007| | | More than just Rose garden | |
To many people, Lynn remains a one hit wonder, but while Rose garden was her only major pop hit in America, and her only hit of any kind in Britain. Lynn was a major country singer in the early to mid seventies, having many hits on the American country charts, including several number ones.
There were too many country hits to include them all here but most of the big ones are here, the most notable omission being I've never loved anyone more. Two of my personal favorites (Smile for me, Even cowgirls get the blues) are among the other omissions. A few of Lynn's earlier recordings from the sixties are included - these occupy tracks six to thirteen. The most important of these is Rocky Top, which was not a huge hit at the time but has nevertheless become a country standard.
Rose garden is typical of many of Lynn's hits, many of which were up-tempo foot-stomping songs, among them being Listen to a country song, Fool me, Top of the world, What a man my man is and Wrap your love all around your man. Of these, Top of the world is particularly interesting. The Carpenters had written and recorded it and included it on an album, but had no plans to release it as a single. So Lynn recorded it and had a huge country hit with it and also had a pop hit with it in Japan. At that point, the Carpenters got the message and released their version as a single.
Lynn has been poorly served by CD releases. This is the best available compilation of her music.
February 21, 2005| | | Well-deserved retrospective of a '70s superstar | |
Wa-hoo! Although she was a mega-huge star in the early 1970s, when her version of Joe South's "Rose Garden" became one of the greatest countrypolitan hits ever, Lynn Anderson's legacy has been poorly served in recent years. Her last serious best-of sets were on the fly-by-night Renaissance label, and these flew quickly out of print. In particular, her dynamic early recordings for the independent Chart label -- the focus of one of the two Renaissance discs -- has faded from sight, remembered by only a few old fans. This new album is the actually first collection that gathers her Chart material with hits from her long run on Columbia Records, a long-overdue real career retrospective that highlights both her most upbeat and most ornate musical moments. "Rose Garden" is, of course, the apex -- (what an amazing pop song!!) -- but there are plenty of other nice oldies on here, including spunky numbers like "Stay There 'Til I Get There," "Talkin' To The Wall," "Flattery Will Get You Everywhere," "No Another Time" and "That's A No-No." Early on, she recorded a lot of songs written by her mother, Liz Anderson, and these are all lots of fun; later as the whole "countrypolitan" thing got a little too serious and stuffy, her endless stream of erotically-tinged, overly orchestrated love songs got to be kind of repetitive, and her chart hits dwindled. To their credit, the folks at Collector's Choice do a fine job balancing this material, giving a good picture of her commercial career while also packing in enough musical goodies to keep more traditionally-oriented country fans hooked as well. This is a must-have for serious students of country history.
January 7, 2005More reviews at Amazon.com ...
