Customer Reviews

T.G. Sheppard - All-Time Greatest Hits

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

T G started out as a singer in the sixties but abandoned that career to take a job as a record plugger. Some years later, he came across a song that he thought would be a hit but nobody was interested. He therefore recorded it himself. That song, Devil in a bottle (not included here), provided T G with the first of a long string of hits spread of several years. Despite his success, there have been very few CD releases. (EDIT - a batch of his original albums were released on CD in 2006.)

My favorite song here is Do you wanna go to heaven, a song which cleverly plays on different meanings of the title, but I also particularly enjoy Last cheater's waltz, Smooth sailing, War is hell on the home front too, Slow burn and Somewhere down the line - but these are just a few of the great songs here. Also worth a mention is Faking love, a duet with Karen Brooks that was co-written by Matraca Berg - one of her earliest songwriting successes. To quote another of the song titles here, I loved them every one.

This album has since been re-issued with different packaging but identical music as Super hits. I live in hope that a more comprehensive collection may one day be released. In the meantime (and possibly out of frustration), T G has re-recorded 20 of his hits including most of those here - those re-recordings can be found on Very best of T G Sheppard. As you can see from the reviews of that collection (including mine), opinion is divided about the merits of that album. If you must have the original recordings, this (or Super hits) is the best available.

If you enjoy eighties pop-country music, give T G a listen. He was as good as anybody at this type of music.

Judging by those 5-star reviews, some people are easily satisfied. That may have been alright at the start of the CD age when most of the big companies rushed out minimal-track compilations covering their stars which also contained absolutely nothing in the way of background notes. Such as this one from Warner.

It also misleads to some degree by claiming to be his "all time greatest hits" which, to anyone who followed his career, was clearly stretching things a bit. They ARE certainly representative of his all time greatest with Warner/Curb as tracks 1 to 4, 6, 7, and 9 to 12 were all # 1, with I Loved 'Em Every One, Only One You, and Finally all crossing over to the Billboard Pop Hot 100 [at # 37, 68, and 58 respectively]. Another crossover, Make My Day with Clint Eastwood in 1984, went to # 52 Hot 100 as well as # 12 Country, but that is not included.

Track 8 was a # 6 Country in 1980 and Somewhere Down The Line a # 3 in 1984. Faking Love, a # 1 for 4 weeks in late 1982/early 1983 was a duet with with Karen Brooks.

But T.G. goes all the way back to late 1974 when his first release on the Melodyland label, Devil In The Bottle, was also a # 1, as was his second release, Tryin' To Beat The Morning Home. Between those, and the first included here [Last Cheater's Waltz], he added two more Melodyland hits, four for Hitsville, and another six for Warner/Curb, including a # 8 1978 cover of The Turtles' 1967 hit Happy Together.

Between Faking Love and Slow Burn he had a # 12 with Without You, a # 57 duet with Judy Collins on Home Again in 1984 for the Elektra label, and in 1984/85 added two more Warner/Curb hits with One Owner Heart [# 4] and You're Going Out Of My Mind [# 10]. In 1985 he joined Columbia and put up nine more hits to 1988, including the # 1 Strong Heart in 1986, and three # 2 hits. His last came in 1991 for Curb/Capitol when Born In A High Wind petered out at # 63.

It's not a bad bargain, certainly, at the price indicated, and the AAD sound quality is excellent. But 12-track compilations without any background information or discography are no longer acceptable. Consumers now want a bigger bang for their buck, especially when the CDs cover stars from the past with many years of success. In Sheppard's case, that was 42 Country charters from 1974 to 1991, including 14 # 1 hits (more than the number of tracks on the CD under review) and seven that ranged from # 2 to # 5. Seven were crossovers to the Billboard Pop Hot 100 and six to the Adult Contemporary charts.

How about a decent 25-track release?

T.G. Sheppard had a good run of hits in the 70's and 80's and this album samples his better known songs such as "War is Hell..." "Finally" and "Party Time".
Sheppard is very good at singing the ballad, the cheating song and the love song or even the rare "whimsical song" such as his duet with Clint Eastwood in "Go Ahead, Make My Day" not included here, and that is why he was among country's superstars during this era.
This is a good album to sample his talent.

In his skin-tight jeans and insinuating voice, Sheppard came on like a love god who could only be satisfied by the hottest angel in honky tonk heaven. Those who blame the likes of Shania Twain and Faith Hill for taking the country out of country music should get a load of these formulaic songs that topped the charts 20 years ago. Barely this side of Barry Manilow in their calculated appeal, these interchangeable tunes are a long pickup ride from Merle Haggard and George Jones or anything halfway authentic. Still, you can't help but love the rollicking piano work in "Party Time," the best song in the collection, or the ribald storytelling in "Do You Wanna Go To Heaven." Forgettable country pop done to perfection. Let's hope Sheppard cashed in--big--on his popularity before he faded into obscurity.

I saw T.G. Sheppard twice in person and thought both shows were excellent. I always loved his music. This CD has some of his best and I liked everyone of them. Excellent buy for the money.

Great collection but where is the song "I Feel Like Loving You Again" (the studio version)? I can't seem to find it anywhere except on his "Live at Billy Bob's" CD. That song was #1 according to Billboard Country so why isn't it on any of his greatest hits recordings?

Hey, given how bad and synthesizer-heavy the Country charts were back in the 1980s, this really ain't that bad. Sheppard was basically following in Conway Twitty's footsteps, doing the same rugged/sensitive lady's man routine... and his arrangements were hardly as poppy as many of his contemporaries; in fact some of these songs are downright fun.

NOTES ON THIS EDITION: this CD contains the **original** versions of these songs (unlike several subsequent albums of re-recorded versions...) Also note that this disc and the Y2K release, "Super Hits Series" are identical, except for the artwork...

With the various "Best Of" CDs out there for T.G. Sheppard, this one is not bad. These are the original versions, but my beef is the lack of his other hits. "Devil In The Bottle" & "Solitary Man" are from the Melodyland/Hitsville record Label and are out of print.They are available on other CDs but are remakes. T.G. had a lot more hits than are on this CD. What I would love to see is an anthology of ALL his hits, including "Motels and Memories", "Trying To Beat The Morning Home" and all the others. Some were not huge hits, but it would be awesome to have a package with all of them.
Until then though, this will do.

This pocket of hits starts at Sheppard's 15th charted song,
and goes to & includes his 29th hit, skipping over three.
He had another 13 songs chart from where this collection stops.
From 1974 through 1991 Sheppard had 42 songs chart.

The best sets of his biggest hits are found,
at this point in time on two separate C.D.s.
1. 'Super hits series, T.G.Sheppard' --
same original tracks as here but as of these comments, it's $3-$4 less.
2. 'Pure Country, T.G. Sheppeard' currantly starting at $1.94 used.
Contains 10 of his last 13 songs as is mentioned above.
That's 22 original recordings, with no repeats.

I owuld have liked to know what songs were on the CD before purchase. But the songs were good anyway.