Customer Reviews

Playlist: The Very Best of Dixie Chicks

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

Whether or not Natalie Maines' opinions give you heartburn, there's no denying her arrival in the Dixie Chicks launched the group to unparalleled commercial and artistic success. With her lead vocals and her bandmates' harmonies and instrumental chops, the group cut a new template for commercial country radio, finding favor with both the mainstream and traditionalist crowds. All was peaches and cream until Maines' outspoken criticism of the Bush administration placed them at odds with the Nashville establishment and many of the band's fans. But in the face of a country radio backlash, the group stuck to their guns, found favor with the pop buying public, and netted their fourth consecutive country album Grammy - and their first Album of the Year - with the unapologetic Taking the Long Way.

This twelve song collection includes tracks from the four studio albums recorded with Maines' as lead vocalist, and skips over the group's three earlier releases. It follows the form of earlier Playlist releases by combining a selection of hits with album tracks that the artist has selected as representative of their career. That means most of the Dixie Chicks' sixteen Top 10 hits are omitted in favor of album tracks (all twelve tracks have been previously issued and are readily available on the group's regular releases), including the concert favorite "Sin Wagon" and a poignant cover of Patty Griffin's "Let Him Fly." The chronological set plays quite well, giving listeners a good helping of the Chicks' vocal and instrumental talents, and shows how they straddled the line between rootsy twang and polished radio country with their cannily selected cover of Fleetwood Mac's "Landslide." The Dixie Chicks deftly bridged their country home base with their pop influences, magnifying, rather than losing, the potency of each.

These songs say as much about the group members' lives as their careers, following the turbulence of divorces and marriages, professional daring, and settled family lives. The disc is delivered in an all-cardboard folder, with a digital booklet that includes six highly-styled photographs, liner notes, production/writing/chart credits, an interactive album discography (that conveniently links to Sony BMG's online store), and a pair of desktop wallpapers. What's here is compelling, but what's missing is essential to really telling the group's story; a recitation of the group's hits can be put together from digital download services, but at a cost that's likely to keep many waiting for a more definitive greatest hits collection or career anthology. [©2010 hyperbolium dot com]

I love the Dixe Chicks and it's so nice having all these great songs in one spot. I have thoroughly enjoyed it. It gets me in a great mood on the way to work!

The Dixie Chicks
"Playlist: The Very Best Of The Dixie Chicks"
(Sony-BMG/Columbia Legacy, 2010)
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This best-of set is about evenly divided between the Chick's "big pop" phase of the late 1990s (mega-hits from albums such as "Wide Open Spaces" and "Fly") and their more acoustic-oriented, expansive post-9/11 sound, when the political backlash from their anti-Bush comments freed them up to pursue another, more diverse audience. With the earlier stuff pared down to the essentials, and the later stuff so damn good, this is a pretty satisfying, high-power set. So, uh... when's the new album coming out? And when are their earliest, pre-Top 40, indie albums going to get the reissue treatment as well? In the meantime, this is a good introduction to the band's best-known work. (DJ Joe Sixpack, Slipcue Guide To Country Music)

With all the amazing songs the Dixie Chicks have given us, it would be impossible to please everyone no matter which songs get included on this disc. As far as I'm concerned, there is no such thing as a bad Dixie Chicks tune, so I'm very pleased with this best of edition.

Ok, so the only reason I gave this 3 stars is because of the songs that are actually ON it. I didn't want to take anything away from their quality and greatness by giving it the 1 or 2 stars I really thought it deserved being a "Best Of" compilation. I wouldn't take any of the tunes that are on here away, there just should have been alot more songs for it to be a true "Best Of playlist". This is definitely missing some crucial hits. Luckily I'm thinking most serious fans have their 4 major studio albums already so they won't need any hits cds because they already own all of the songs, but if you're just getting into the band or a casual fan: BUYER BEWARE. I may be a bit biased because I think every one of their songs is great (especially everything on Home), but I'm also objective enough to know which of their songs were pretty big hits that aren't included but should be. And if I was buying a Best Of of the Dixie Chicks I would automatically assume these songs were included. If you think of Tonight The Heartaches on Me, There's Your Trouble, I Can Love You Better, Hello Mr. Heartache, Ready To Run, Goodbye Earl, Without You, Some Days You Gotta Dance, Travelin' Soldier, and White Trash Wedding as songs that should be in a Dixie Chicks hits collection this cd isn't for you. Bottom line: The Chicks and (all) their songs are amazing. Whoever put together this compilation is not. I would definitely hold off on Playlist and wait for THE ESSENTIAL DIXIE CHICKS, it's a two cd set with 30 songs, including every one of the songs that are on Playlist. http://www.amazon.com/Essential-Dixie-Chicks/dp/B003YCRYZU

I saw them on 6/12/10 with the Eagles and loved them so I searched through their CD's and found this to be the best. It's in my auto CD player and I listen to it all the time. Very tlented group of ladies!!

I thought all of the songs I knew were the good ones :-)
Turns out I'm not a true fan.
But, to each his own.

Way too many hits are missing here: "I Can Love You Better," "There's Your Trouble," "Travelin' Soldier," "Goodbye Earl," "Ready to Run," "Tonight the Heartache's on Me," "Cold Day in July," and "Some Days You Gotta Dance." Instead, obscure album cuts are included. Avoid this set, and wait for a true hits collection!

This CD has some good songs, but it can't really be called a hits collection. Too many of the best of their singles are missing. They have an "Essential" album that features all of them now.

OK, I am a big fan of Natalie and the chicks, but have held off on buying any CDs until a greatest hits collection arrived. THIS IS NOT IT!

For a collection to be called the best of and then to not include MOST of their hit singles is not only misleading, it is lunacy. WHERE WERE THE GIRLS IN THIS CONVO? Did no-one think that this would lower the potential for album sales? Do they STILL not know that disgruntled customers can now WARN others not to make the same buying nmistakes they did?

Or maybe that is the plan, ehh? Note that the description is sure to say that all those great hits CAN still be found on the original CDs (as if someone was going to take the masters and erase all the hits from them?)so just buy this CD PLUS all their other CDs and you're all set. Hard to believe the girls went for that spin (duh!).

I cannot get over how ridiculous this all is. What moron at what record company was behind this turkey???? Someone should give it back to him!