Customer Reviews

Clint Black - The Greatest Hits

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Clint Black arrived on the country charts in 1989, a great year for new talent in country music, with Garth Brooks, Alan Jackson, and Travis Tritt also releasing debut albums. As hard as it may be to believe now, Black's debut Killin' Time established him initially as the biggest of the new stars with hits like "A Better Man," "Nobody's Home," and the title track.

These songs effectively displayed Black's clever wordplay amid fairly traditional honky tonk arrangements and a Haggardesque vocal style with a dash of quiver. While it wasn't long before Black was surpassed in the sales and award arena by Brooks and even Jackson, his music continued to captivate - as this Greatest Hits shows.

All of his first five albums are represented on Greatest Hits, but strangely, only "A Better Man" and "Killin' Time" are here from the first album, with the lone entry from his second, Put Yourself In My Place, being its title track. Any collection calling itself Black's Greatest should have included the aforementioned "Nobody's Home" (now available on Greatest Hits II) and the sumptuous "Loving Blind."

By the time Black released his fourth and fifth albums (which have a combined seven tracks included here), his music had begun to lack some originality. The melodies for "We Tell Ourselves" and "No Time To Kill" are pretty much interchangeable and "Summer's Comin'" sounds like a knockoff of Jackson's megahit "Chattahoochee" (and even if it's not, Black's lyrics have never been so uninspired).

Still, there were always plenty of highpoints, like the uptempo "Life Gets Away" and "A Good Run Of Bad Luck," plus his spinetingling pairing with Wynonna, "A Bad Goodbye." About the only big hit missing from albums 3 through 5 is the logistically-challenged yet irresistible "When My Ship Comes In" from The Hard Way (also available on Greatest Hits II).

Greatest Hits added four new recordings intended to appeal to the Black fan who already has everything else. "Like The Rain" is a haunting departure for Black that is truly among his best work. Likewise, "Cadillac Jack Favor" offers a nice change of pace in the form of a story song: the true saga of rodeo champ Favor who was framed for murder but eventually found innocent.

Less memorable are Black's downbeat "Half Way Up" and a live version of Desperado" with clumsy phrasing that never threatens to rival the Eagles' original version. These last two tracks are the exception rather than the rule, however. Greatest Hits is a consistently entertaining (if not fully comprehensive) set of highlights from the first phase of one of country music's most gifted singer-songwriters.

I could have given Clint Black's The Greatest Hits album five stars, because musically, it is great. The newer songs on this record, "Like The Rain", "Half Way Up", and "Cadillac Jack Favor", are among Clint's best. I also like Clint's live version of the Eagles' classic song "Desperado", which Clint originally did for the "Common Thread" Eagles tribute album. However, although Clint and his co-producer, James Stroud, put together a strong collection of songs, I think Clint overlooked some songs from early in his career that in my opinion are classics. "Lovin' Blind", "Where Are You Now", and "When My Ship Comes In", all #1 hits, are very good songs, yet they don't even appear on The Greatest Hits. Nevertheless, Clint still put enough of his hit songs on this record that it's truly a high quality collection. "A Better Man", "Killin' Time", "Put Yourself In My Shoes" and "Summer's Comin'", all among my personal favorites, are on here, along with eight more of Clint's classic hits. The Greatest Hits lives up to its name.

Clint Black is a great country artist, no if's, and's, or but's about it. He has a pure, classic voice. His lyric writing and melodies are flawless and fresh. This Greatest Hits album is just as perfect as an all new, original album. You get two new songs on here called "Like The Rain", which is a great, strong Clint song. The other is called "Halfway Up", which is a pleasing little ditty. The rest is pure gold. "A Better Man" is as good a country song as country songs get. His rendition of the classic Eagles song "Desperado" is priceless. It shows off his impressive vocal abilities. His performance of it gives goosebumps that Don Henley hasn'y given me when he sings it. There is not one bad track on here. Each song is as good as any other one. A lot of the songs are bouncy up-tempo songs, and that's just fine. "A Good Run Of Bad Luck" is great. The best catchy song is "Summer's Comin'". It's a great summer type song along the lines of "Summertime Blues". An instant classic. If you like country music, you need this. If your not sure about country music and are willing to experiment, this CD is a great place to start. Clint Black can do no wrong.

I could have given Clint Black's The Greatest Hits album five stars, because musically, it is great. The newer songs on this album, "Like The Rain", "Half Way Up" and "Cadillac Jack Favor", are among Clint's best songs. I also like Clint's live version of the Eagles' classic hit song "Desperado", a song that Clint originally did for the "Common Thread" Eagles tribute album. However, although I think Clint and James Stroud, his co-producer, put together a strong collection of songs, I also think Clint overlooked some great songs from early in his career. For example, "Nobody's Home", "Lovin' Blind", "Where Are You Now" and "When My Ship Comes In", all classic #1 hits by Clint, are very good songs, yet none of these songs appear on The Greatest Hits. Nevertheless, Clint still put enough of his hit songs on this record that I believe it is truly a high quality collection. "A Better Man", "Killin' Time", "Put Yourself In My Shoes" and "Summer's Comin'", all among my personal favorite Clint Black songs, are on here, along with eight more of Clint's classic hits. The Greatest Hits lives up to its name.

This Album Makes No Sense. Clint calls this his Greatest Hits package, but why does he leave out several number one hits and put on many non number ones? My favorite Clint Black songs are When My Ship Comes In, Where Are You Now and Loving Blind. All three hit number one but were left off this album. What a disappointment to get junk like Half Way Up and Like The Rain (previously unreleased) which were so over produced especially for radio. Another new song, Cadillac Jack Favor, is much, much better but too bad it wasn't a single. Clint's first album had 5 number ones but unfortunately three were left off. I hate when an artist puts "his" favorites on a greatest hits package and doesn't look to see what the fan's favorites are. I mean if songs hit number one, the fans and radio like it. I think a big reason for this is greed as the artist wants you buy the other albums. I was probably Clints biggest fan up until his average "No Time To Kill" album hit the shelves in 1993. Since then I have slowly moved on to other artists who make consistant albums and good Greatest Hits packages. Clay Walker put all of his hits on his Greatest Hits package which is a great CD. I hope Clint starts making good music again.

This Album Makes No Sense. Clint calls this his Greatest Hits package, but why does he leave out several number one hits and put on many non number ones? My favorite Clint Black songs are When My Ship Comes In, Where Are You Now and Loving Blind. All three hit number one but were left off this album. What a disappointment to get below average stuff like Half Way Up and Like The Rain (previously unreleased) which were so over produced primarily for radio. Another new song, Cadillac Jack Favor, is much, much better but too bad it wasn't a single. Clint's first album had 5 number ones but unfortunately three were left off. I hate when an artist puts "his" favorites on a greatest hits package and doesn't look to see what the fan's favorites are. I mean if songs hit number one, the fans and radio like it. I think a big reason for this is greed as the artist wants you buy the other albums. I was probably Clints biggest fan up until his average "No Time To Kill" album hit the shelves in 1993. Since then I have slowly moved on to other artists who make consistant albums and good Greatest Hits packages. Clay Walker put all of his hits on his Greatest Hits package which is a great CD. I hope Clint starts making good music again.

When i first bought the cd.. the song, A Good Run Of Bad Luck attracted my attention... but when i listened to it... i was blown away.. the hits State of Mind and Better Man are fabulous.. if you are a Clint Black fan, or even just a little bit skeptical about country music in general.. then DO NOT PASS THISS ALBUM UP!

This album has alot of good song.When clint started out and you were younger with happer and youthful times.The songs on this album are great. You'll love it, along with Greatest Hits Vol.2.

I grew up with country in the 90's. It sure beats anything that is currently playing on country radio. Alot of those stars are still around but dont get much attention for some unknown reason. I dont know why but I pulled out this cd and I cant stop listening to it. Clint Black is a great singer and I just recently found out he writes most of his music. His early stuff is awesome and is newer stuff is good but a little more less ballads Clint. Like ever greatest hits album, there are bound to be songs missing. My favorite songs are A Good Run of Bad Luck, Better Man, Killin Time, Put Yourself In My Shoes, Life Gets Away From Us All, and No Time to Kill. I think I just named half of the album but its hard to pick just one or two songs. All in all, a very great album from a fading star of the 90's.

Clint Black is truly a great singer. This album showcases a good collection of his greatest hits. My favorites include "State of Mind," "A Good Run of Bad Luck," "A Bad Goodbye," "A Better Man," "We Tell Ourselves," "Life Gets Away," and "No Time to Kill." (not to put down the other songs of course) Any fan of Clint will find much to enjoy on this terrific album. I am very glad I bought it, and I knew what I was doing when I did.