Dolly Parton - The Essential One: I Will Always Love You

Dolly Parton | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (March 28, 1995)
• Original Release Date: March 28, 1995
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: RCA
• ASIN: B000002WS3
• Also Available in: Audio Cassette  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #112,761 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars THE TITLE SAYS IT ALL, August 1, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Dolly Parton - The Essential One: I Will Always Love You (Audio CD)

Of all of the greatest hits collections I've seen, this is, by far, the best one available in the marketplace. "Essential, Volume One" covers Dolly's career just after the "Here You Come Again" era began, pushes you through to the end of her stay with the RCA label, and reminds us of the greatness of her songwriting with the closing song, "I Will Always Love You." Although just one collection from Dolly will never be enough, this one is solid end-to-end and for an enthusiastic fan with no other recordings this is "essential." Complement this with the "Super Hits" and "Here You Come Again" recordings for that well-rounded collection of Dolly.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Definitely Essential, April 2, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Dolly Parton - The Essential One: I Will Always Love You (Audio CD)

One thing here that is for certain: success speaks for itself. Though the majority of critics write off this period of Dolly's career, they forget that Dolly Parton became a household name with songs like "Here You Come Again", "9 To 5", "Two Doors Down" and "Islands In The Stream". This was an album I had waited a long time for as I had trekked to Nashville to purchase the long lost "Great Balls Of Fire" LP just to get a copy of her 1979 #1 smash "You're The Only One" back in 1993.

Certain things about this album were a disappointment. First, several songs on this album were remixes of the original songs-the worst being a solo version of "Real Love" as well as "Do I Ever Cross Your Mind", "Don't Call It Love" and "Old Flames Can't Hold A Candle To You" which spoiled an otherwise perfect collection-thus not a five-star compilation. Still, several previously unavailable songs were finally on CD on this first of two long awaited collections including the top ten country hits "Single Women" and "Heartbreak Express" (from "Heartbreak Express"), "You're The Only One" (#1 for 2 weeks) and "Sweet Summer Lovin" (from "Great Balls of Fire"), "God Won't Get You" (from the Rhinestone Soundtrack) and the Donna Summer penned "Starting Over Again" (#1 ; from "Dolly, Dolly, Dolly").

No doubt, a career as expansive by such a talented singer as Dolly Parton could never be compiled in just one CD, but to write off anything she did after breaking away from Porter Wagoner as just pop-flavored garbage is an insult to true fans. Dolly truly has a unique sound that nobody can even begin to match and the majority of songs featured on this album are among some of her best including the stunning remake of Kenny Rogers & The First Edition's hit "But You Know I Love You".

Some things to remember about the anthology is that two major Dolly hits were remakes of other artists' work including "Two Doors Down" (written by Dolly but originally a top ten country hit for Zella Lehr) and "Old Flames Can't Hold A Candle To You", originally a #14 country hit for Joe Sun in 1978.

So don't be led into believing this is not worth it-over 20 years of number one hits as well as two #1 pop hits will ever prove the critics wrong. She is by far the best female vocalist Nashville has ever had. Take this from someone who did NOT grow up on Porter and Dolly.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Almost Every Great Hit!, August 21, 2002

By 

Martin A Hogan "Marty From SF" (San Francisco, CA. (Hercules)) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Dolly Parton - The Essential One: I Will Always Love You (Audio CD)

This is 'almost' the definitive collection of all of Dolly Parton's greatest songs, including her big hits, "9 To 5", "I Will Always Love You" (better version than Houston's - in my opinion) and the biggest selling counrty hit in history, "Islands In The Stream". If you are looking for the classic "Jolene", you'll have to get "Vol. 2...".

However, this is as good as it gets and Dolly is always full of surprises on those few songs (out of twenty!) that you may have forgotten about! God Bless Dolly Parton!