Customer Reviews

Tears Of Fire: The 25th Anniversary Collection

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is a terrific boxed set of, perhaps the greatest female country singer of all time. She certainly had the voice, the right inflection, the material, the producer (the great Billy Sherrill in his prime) and the husband (all-time legend George Jones). Current "country" singers today can't hold a candle; I would only deduct one star because if I was doing the compilation, I'd have included less 80's-period stuff and more of the 60's/70's material that's missing...like "There Goes That Steel Guitar", or some of the Christmas LP original songs, or better, some of the more obscure duets with then-husband, George Jones, like the classic "We Believe In Each Other"...but no matter, most of this is REALLY GREAT stuff from a really great traditional country singer. Looking forward to her estate finally giving permission to release all of those very solid LPs from the 1970's (so we can finally hear songs like "I L-O-V-E-Y-O-U" again). Here's to the REAL First Lady...

Having been a fan foever, and, for a few years in the mid 80's, a personal friend, I am grateful CBS has this box set for all of her fans. The "essential" hits and many early LP cuts are here and she, of course, is the best of the best. I only wish CBS would now put out an additional disc (or two?) "Tears Of Fire - disc 4 & 5" ! Many singles and great recordings of her later 70's and 80's are missing including : Reach Out Your Hand, Love's The Answer, There Goes That Old Steel Guitar, You Make Me Want To Be A Mother, I'd Like To See Jesus, Womanhood, No One Else In The World, He Was There When I Needed You, Starting Over, Next To You, Thank The Cowboy For The Ride, Let's Call It A Day Today, Lonely Heart, You Can Lead A Heart To Love. Also, Tammy's favorites she like to do in concert : Stayin' Home Woman and Your Memory's Gone To Rest. Don't get me wrong, this box set is well worth the money. CBS/Epic owes the public more from the First Lady. She was as humble as they come and it's such a shame they added her to the Hall Of Fame after her death. She told me she really didn't think she was that big of a deal. Peace and love to you Tammy, and Richey & the girls too.

This is a very impressive set, containing most of Tammy's hits from her first minor country hit (Apartment number nine) to her last major international hit, Justified and ancient, though this track sits uneasily on this collection. Of course, if you don't like it, you can easily skip it as it's the last track.

There are also a few previously unreleased rarities, best of which is Deepening snow. Like all Tammy compilations, this one misses out some big hits including (in this case) Run woman run, Reach out your hand and my favorite Tammy track, Womanhood. Still, this is still the best collection of Tammy's music yet released for the true fan. The missing big hits (and a few missing lesser hits) can be found elsewhere.

As well as getting the vast majority of her classics from her first ten years, there are many of her best songs from later in her career including Another chance, Unwed fathers and several tracks from her acoustic album, Higher ground. Tammy also recorded plenty of covers and some of these are included, among these being Sweet dreams, Lonely street, You'll never walk alone (the best version I've heard of this famous song) and No charge. I've never liked No charge, whoever sings it, and would much prefer to have had Sweet music man, another song that Tammy did better than anybody else (even including Dolly and Reba, though they came close).

This collection will appeal to everybody who enjoys Tammy's music but who wants more than a single CD can offer. I would have liked a fourth CD, which would have allowed all the remaining hits to be included and a few more choice album tracks. But this set is plenty good enough to be going on with.

This is an excellent retrospective of Tammy's career. Among the more than 50 tracks are over twenty of her biggest hits, but it's not just a greatest hits collection. There are a few of her duets with George Jones, but that's not the focus of this release. Coming out in 1992, there are three previously unreleased tracks and many little known gems. The songs are nearly evenly distributed among the years, starting with her first hit "Apartment #9" in 1967 through three songs recorded in 1990-91. If you're just looking for the hits, there may be a better collection, but if you're a Tammy Wynette fan, this is indispensable. One of the highlights for me is her version of Mickey Newbury's "Poison Red Berries" from 1974, here still known by it's original name "I Don't Think About Him No More".

Thank God I finally discovered Tammy Wynette. Even with all her success and legendary status, she still hasn't gotten what she's due. Some of her songs are pure pop and others quintessential country. "My Man (Understands)" and "Good Lovin'" are my favorites. She is the BEST BEST BEST BEST!

I love this box set. CBS needs to put out Tears Of Fire 2. There are a bunch of greatest hits songs missing from this set:

Run, Angel Run
Almost Persuaded
Run, Woman, Run
You Can't Hang On
Still Around
The Only Time I'm Really Me
Our Last Night Together
The Wonders You Perform
There Goes That Old Steel Guitar
(You Make Me Want To Be) A Mother
Love's The Answer
Reach Out Your Hand
Womanhood
This Time I Almost Made It
I'd Like To See Jesus (On The Midnight Special)

These are from her original four Greatest Hits albums.
CBS also needs to do a box set with Tammy Wynette and George Jones.

Tammy Wynette may be the only woman who sang her autobiography. Represented in this chronological collection of her more popular recordings is the tale of a yearning young woman, a wounded (but always healing) survivor, and a wise, but gentle matriarch.
Tammy told the truth, but her voice was so expressive and emotional that she could have made you believe in the sincerity of the hokey-pokey. She will always be The First Lady of Country Music ... the first and the best (and the "loudest!")

Tammy's earlier original studio albums are my main interest, and if anyone else is in the same boat, you might find a this listing of them useful in assessing the boxed set. It omits her album "Inspiration", which consisted of older songs (mostly gospel covers plus a couple of pop tunes).

#1 Your Good Girl's Gonna Go Bad (April 1967)

1. Apartment No. 9
2. Don't Come Home a Drinkin' (With Lovin' on Your Mind)
3. Don't Touch Me
4. There Goes My Everything
5. Send Me No Roses
6. Your Good Girl's Gonna Go Bad
7. Walk Through This World With Me
8. I'm Not Mine to Give
9. I Wound Easy (But I Heal Fast)
10. Almost Persuaded

#2 Take Me to Your World/I Don't Wanna Play House (January 1968)

1. I Don't Wanna Play House
2. Jackson Ain't a Very Big Town
3. Broadminded
4. Cry
5. Phone Call
6. It's My Way
7. Take Me to Your World
8. (Or) Is It Love
9. Fuzzy Wuzzy Ego
10. Good
11. Ode to Billie Joe

#3 D-I-V-O-R-C-E (1968)

1. Gentle on My Mind
2. Honey (I Miss You)
3. Legend of Bonnie and Clyde
4. All Night Long
5. Sweet Dreams
6. Yesterday
7. D-I-V-O-R-C-E
8. Come on Home
9. When There's a Fire in Your Heart
10. Kiss Away
11. Lonely Street

#4 Stand By Your Man (1968)

1. Stand by Your Man
2. It's My Way
3. Forever Yours
4. I Stayed Long Enough
5. It Keeps Slipping My Mind
6. My Arms Stay Open All Night
7. I've Learned
8. Cry, Cry Again
9. Joey
10. If I Were a Little Girl
11. Don't Make Me Go to School

Bonus Tracks from CD reissue

I'm Only a Woman
There's Quite a Difference


#5 The Ways to Love a Man (1969)

1. Way to Love a Man
2. Twelfth of Never
3. I'll Share My World with You
4. Enough of a Woman
5. Singing My Song
6. He'll Never Take the Place of You
7. I Know
8. Yearning (To Kiss You)
9. These Two
10. Where Could You Go (But to Her)
11. Still Around

#6 Tammy's Touch (1970)

1. I'll See Him Through
2. Love Me, Love Me
3. It's Just a Matter of Time
4. Cold Lonely Feeling
5. Divorce Sale
6. He Loves Me All the Way
7. He Thinks I Love Him
8. Our Last Night Together
9. Lighter Shade of Blue
10. Lonely Days (And Nights More Lonely)
11. You Make My Skies Turn Blue

Bonus Tracks from CD reissue

Run, Angel, Run
Too Far Gone
Run, Woman, Run
My Daddy Doll

This Boxed set not only chronicles Tammy Wynette's music from the mid 60's til the early 90's. It is also a guideline for life-- the tears, the laughs,the wild times as well. If you don't have other titles by Tammy, then I highly recommend them. She'll carry you through the good and help you with the bad.

Tears of Fire the boxed set by Tammy Wynette shows the late legend of country music at her best. From the heart-wrenching emotion of the self-penned 'Til I Can Make It On My Own' to the tongue-in-cheek playfulness of 'Another Chance', the entire set is a winner. The three CD set contains songs from the early sixties to the mid eighties and includes a twenty-six page book of extensive notes and pictures that put the songs in historical perspective. There are also duets with George Jones, Emmylou Harris and others that highlight the versatility of the First Lady of Country Music. There is some filler in this boxed set and not all the included songs are classics -- but the set is a must-have for any fan and anyone who enjoys the best that classic Country Music has to offer.