Legendary [Import]

Dolly Parton | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (May 23, 2000)
• Number of Discs: 3
• Format: Import
• Label: Bmg Int'l
• ASIN: B00004TIMM
• Also Available in: Audio CD
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #279,535 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

Disc: 1

1. Coat of Many Colors

2. In the Good Old Days (When Times Were Bad)

3. Higher and Higher

4. Touch Your Woman

5. We Used To

6. My Tennessee Mountain Home

See all 17 tracks on this disc

Disc: 2

1. 9 to 5

2. Old Flames (Can't Hold a Candle to You)

3. Baby I'm Burnin'

4. Sweet Summer Lovin'

5. The Bargain Store

6. Think About Love

See all 17 tracks on this disc

Disc: 3

1. Great Balls of Fire

2. Almost in Love

3. To Daddy

4. She Don't Love You (Like I Love You)

5. Travelling Man

6. Heartbreaker

See all 16 tracks on this disc

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Best available Dolly Parton career retrospective, November 10, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Legendary (Audio CD)

Dolly Parton's 3CD set in the import budget "Legendary" series may be the best available compilation there is in the market for fans expecting a fairly broad-based representation of Dolly's recorded output from her long and illustrous career. Most other "best of", "greatest hits" or career retrospectives have tended to concentrate on her pop hits from the 80s onwards at the expense of her far more potent country recordings from the 70s.

The first CD is quintessential Dolly, consisting of her most stellar and heartfelt work from the 70s. There's "Coat of Many Colours", "Just Because I'm A Woman", "Jolene", "I Will Always Love You", "In The Good Old Days (When Times Were Bad)", "One Of Those Days" and lots lots more great stuff. This first CD alone is worth the price of the set.

The second CD covers material from Dolly's most commercially viable period but it is also arguably her weakest set. Full of obvious crossover hits (eg, "9 to 5"), pointless covers, (eg "Save The Last Dance For Me") and calculated duets ("Islands In The Stream"), it is saved by a handful of nuggets like "Old Flames (Can't Hold A Candle To You"), "Bargain Store" and the incomparable "Two Doors Down". The uptempo "Don't Call It Love" (covered by the fabulous Dusty Springfield) and the funky "Potential New Boyfriend" are also highlights. Half of these 17 tracks I'll happily listen to any day. The rest I'd programme out.

The final CD lies somewhere in between. Mixing her earliest with her latest material, it gives us a sense of the road Dolly has travelled. Whilst the country classic "Mules Skinner Blues", "Joshua", "Almost In Love", "To Daddy" and the early Porter Wagoner duet "The Last Thing On My Mind" are truly wonderful, there're also the occasional duffer like "Downtown". Dolly should leave pop classics like this to pure stylists. Not that she does a bad job. Only that she should render Caeser's to Caeser.

Dolly Parton has had such a long and varied career it's hard to assemble a perfect retrospective befitting the range of her achievements. Until somebody makes a serious attempt at this feat, "Legendary" is for my money a worthy and respectable substitute. Highly recommended.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Compilation Worth Owning, July 15, 2002

By 

J. M. Zuurbier (Canada) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Legendary (Audio CD)

Dolly Parton's compilations are something to count on, another one seems to come out every few years. In many aspects they do not add up though, her career spans over 40 years and no compilation seems to do a fair or accurate job of putting together a diverse tracklisting that both is unique and covers all bases. Most compilations have the same songs and almost identical tracklistings. You own one, you own them all basically. That is until now. Released in Australia, this import LEGENDARY is a compilation worth owning. 50 songs in total, this compilation does a great job covering Parton's career span. 3 discs total, this is for everyone, be it the hardcore fan, or the new fan, this is a CD worth owning, for a cheap price! Another advantage to owning this is to have the original version of "Two Doors Down", which is very hard to find. There is also some material which is only available on her vinyl albums, which are scarcely available on CD. Overall its the best compilation out there, and should tide over well until RCA decides to pursue a boxed set which should cover all aspects of her career.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars What a great introduction to this artist, March 10, 2005

By 

magnoliavillage (Seattle, WA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Legendary (Audio CD)

I'll start by saying, I am no fan of country music. However, as a kid, I had limited exposure to the country music of the late '60s/early 70's thanks to my dad's weekly viewing of Hee Haw... Torture. Having said that, that's what I consider to be country, Buck Owens, Roy Clark, George Jones, Willie Nelson, Tammy Wynette, Lynn Anderson, Charlie Pride, etc... Again, I'm NO fan of country, but I'm vaguely aware of its past performers.

Today, I find the whole "Country" scene to be very contrived and the only stars I'm aware of are the ones that get any media coverage. Garth, Shania, Randy Travis... and that's about it. Is it rock, is it country? Who cares?

Not having any interest at all in country music, I bought this collection for several reasons:
1. I knew some of Dolly's big, early hits (Jolene, Coat of Many Colors. Hadn't heard them for years, but I knew her early work is held in high regard and wanted to hear for myself what all the hype was about.
2. Wanted to hear the original version of "I Will Always Love You".
3. This collection had a LOT of music for the money. Best bang for your buck. I couldn't pass up this collection. Cheapness does have its rewards!

This has turned out to be one of the biggest surprises in my collection. While not every song is great (and some are quite bad), by and large, this is a fantastic set of songs. The ones one I tend to like best are the ones I assume to be from early in her career. The emotion that comes through on the early songs really strikes the listener with an authenticity that is rarely heard in music. The low point in the collection would have to be the songs that seem to have been recorded in the 80's; mostly light-weight fluff that does not strike an emotional connection with the listener.

Dolly successfully projects a wide range of emotions in this collection: humor, sadness, rejection, strength, vulnerability, joy, sensuality. It's hard to listen to this music and not like the artist as a person.

Oh, by the way, in my opinion, Dolly's version of "I Will Always Love You" smokes Whitney's version. Dolly's version truly conveys the emotion of the song (sadness), whereas all you notice with Whitney's version are her vocal abilities (which, admittedly, are impressive). This is not a love song (in the traditional sense, anyway).