Customer Reviews

John Denver's Greatest Hits

5 star:		(42)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

In the 70's, when Denver was at his creative and commercial peak--because he looked like a dork and made bad movies with George Burns and bad TV shows with the Muppets--it was not hip to like his music. I must admit that as a younger man I succumbed to this reasoning myself. I listened to James Taylor and the Eagles but turned my nose up at Denver, whose one hip credential at the time was writing "Leaving on a Jet Plane" for Peter Paul & Mary. . .But if you listen to some of these songs you will realize, if only in retrospect, that there is some real poetry, and some genuine musical majesty working here--particularly in "Rocky Mountain high" and "Take Me Home Country Roads", two of the best hit records of the decade. "Goodbye Again", "Starwood in Aspen" and "Rhymes and Reasons" are underrated songs that would have gotten a lot more respect if they'd been on a James Taylor or Dan Fogelberg album.

Fair is fair. The guy could write a song.

John Denver, without a doubt, has to be my main inspiration for guitar. Unlike any other artist, he created such melancholy and images of nature through his songs, complementing them with his soaring, tenor voice and his excellent guitar playing. When I heard he was killed, I sat in my living room and played and sang every Denver song I knew, trying to give them some of the justice they deserved.

Though not all of his best songs are on this compilation, I do believe that this collection captures all parts of Denver. Songs like "Sunshine on My Shoulders" and "Rhymes and Reasons" and "Leaving on a Jet Plane" evoke a melancholy spirit while others like "Eagle and the Hawk" and "Country Roads" makes one long for the beauty of nature that only Denver can capture in song.

Denver will be sorely missed.

When I was growing up, my parents had three JD albums: Poems, Prayers, and Promises, Aerie, and Back Home Again. So we didn't have this particular album, however I know many of the songs on it and they are pure beauty. The best thing about Greatest Hits is it has five songs that as of now are unavailable anywhere else (Rhymes and Reasons, Leaving on a Jet Plane, Follow Me, Starwood in Aspen and the Eagle and the Hawk). Still, I would recommend that you buy PP&P as well as Rocky Mountain High. All of John's work was great, not just these...

John Denver's music, musicianship, and voice have a special quality that will be difficult to match. The songs on this album are just beautiful.

On the other hand, the quality of the sound on this CD is close to the worst I have ever heard. It is tinny, noisy, distorted, harsh, and you can hear pitch variations on several songs that seem to come from problems with the master tape. The mixing is such that often the lyrics are drowned out by the music.

When the original album was released in 1973, it contained only two songs that had been chart hits for John Denver. The two songs were; "Take Me Home, Country Roads," and "Rocky Mountain High." The rest of the material was considered the best songs off of his first five albums for RCA. This was marketing genius. It became a huge seller and solidified John Denver's status as a musical phenomenon.

Many songs had been re-recorded for this album reflecting John's growth as a performer. The melancholy ballad "Sunshine On My Shoulders" was culled from this album, having been ignored on the album "Poems, Prayers and Promises." With a string section added to the track it became John Denver's first number one hit.

Despite the fact that at the time there was only a few bonafide hits on the album, all of the songs have become well-recognized treasures from John Denver's astonishing career. Songs such as "Rhymes and Reasons" and "Starwood in Aspen," "The Eagle and The Hawk" could have been forgotten if they had not had been included on this album. That would have been a shame. I'm grateful that RCA recognized the quality of the material John had produced and showcased it on this album. This truly is an album that personifies the beauty, the profoundness, and depth, of a great musician.

John Denver is THE main influence for my guitar playing. His music has touched my melancholy soul like no other musician ever has. The night I learned he died, I sat in my living room and sang and played all the songs I knew, doing my best to give them justice like he did. Many of those songs I sang are on this collection.

One cannot listen to songs like "Sunshine On My Shoulders" and "Rocky Mountain High" and "The Eagle and The Hawk" and not long for the grand outdoors and the beauty of nature. As a musician, he is an incredible guitar player. His lyrics are so deep and melancholy. To classify him as a country artist is a gross misunderstanding. His work goes far beyond a mere twang.

Listen to this CD. Sit back and let the images he creates with his excellent music carry you away to another place. Really listen to it.

There's no doubt that "John Denver" was great, and these are wonderful songs, but I would go with another collection. "The Best Of John Denver" is cheaper, three tracks longer, and includes "Annie's Song" and "Thank God I'm A Country Boy", which to me are essential to have. Of course it also includes "Rocky Mountain High", "Sunshine On My Shoulders", and "Take Me Home, Country Roads" as well. Both collections are great, but I think the other one is "The Best".

I went through the stage of turning my nose up at John Denver's music, mainly because of the direction his later music took. It wasn't until a couple of years ago that a twenty-something friend of mine came over to my house with his guitar and wanted to jam on John Denver songs. We had a blast, and we've repeated this pleasure a few more times with others coming over to sing along with us.

"John Denver's Greatest Hits" is an excellent collection of his better-known early work, but there are lots of great tunes on his first few albums. While Denver wasn't a folk purist, he did help extend the folk tradition by creating songs that people still enjoy singing around the campfire.

I did my student-teaching in elementary music in 1974, when John Denver was at the top of the charts. Throughout my music teaching career "Take Me Home, Country Roads," was a staple in my repertoire with kids. Our other favorite, "Grandma's Feather Bed," doesn't appear here, but is worth getting if you like singing with kids!

To answer a previous reviewer's question, this CD has the same recordings as my old scratchy l.p. does, which is why I got it. I wanted to have the same songs, in the same order, as I remembered them from the 70s!

John Denver (Henry John Deutschendorf, Jr.) was a very good musician. He was a one of a kind country singer, almost never singing traditional country music about death, divorce, and sadness. He always did upbeat songs. This particular CD features all of his hits on the radio and the good clear versions. He tells you in the booklet that these are treated differently than the original recordings, because he was singing better at this time of his life. Tragically, Denver died in 1997 in a plane crash at the age of 53, but his music will carry on forever. The best version of Take Me Home, Country Roads, Rocky Mountain High and Sunshine on my Shoulders are right here on this CD. If you like John Denver, this CD and his other CD Greatest Hits Volume 2 are the ones to get. You will not be disappointed with this CD at all. Rest in Peace John Denver, the mountains always made you "feel at peace."

John Denver's music makes one think of high altitudes, pine forests and pure mountain air. This collection includes his huge hits Take Me Home Country Roads, Starwood In Aspen, Sunshine On My Shoulders and Rocky Mountain High, plus other greart songs like Rhymes And Reasons, Poems, Prayers And Promises and Leaving On A Jet Plane, his composition that was one of Peter, Paul and Mary's biggest hits. Denver had a knack for soaring melodies and his pure voice lifts the spirit. The criticism is that his music is one dimensional but I feel that what he did, he did exceptionally well. He was the pastoral bard of America's unspoilt nature, of the wide spaces, the mountains, the forests and the sky. The tunes are sublime and whether you like his pristine country/folk sound or not, he was a great composer. Another good collection is The Greatest Country Hits which contains 18 tracks. But this is still a valuable collection of his greatest chart hits, most of them from the early to middle 1970s.