Customer Reviews

Ultimate Collection

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The sound's not bad, but the sneaky bastards don't tell you--until you open the package--that these are recent rerecordings that are intended to sound exactly like the original hits.

This would easily be the best Diffie collection available if it used the original recordings.

Joe Diffie
"The Ultimate Collection"
(Rounder, 2009)
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Re-recorded versions of a bunch of Diffie's old hits... It's pretty common for country artists to re-record old hits, which irks some fans who feel that this is cheating, but which puts more money in the artist's pockets than do best-of collections on the old major labels... The main issue is if the labels let you know whether these are "original hit versions" or new recordings -- as long as it's clearly labeled, I don't think it's such a big deal. Indeed, I often find it interesting to hear what an artist sounds like, later in life, which can often be quite high-quality musicmaking. It used to be that labels let established artists record for years on end -- think about Louis Armstrong, Ernest Tubb, Johnny Cash, Sinatra -- but pop and country have become such intensely flavor-of-the-month businesses most artists are washed-up after a year or two. So, we're getting a lot more indie releases from former stars, which often yield some surprisingly rich results.

Besides, if you want to hear Diffie's original recordings, there are several collections available, such as "The Essential Joe Diffie" and "16 Biggest Hits", which both came out in 2003. (DJ Joe Sixpack, Slipcue Guide To Country Music)

I was VERY pleased with this cd. I really think it hit the nail on the head when it comes to Joe Diffie's #1's. "Bigger than the Beatles","Prop me up by the jukebox", and "john deere green" are all from different album periods and made it onto this album, along with many of his other biggie's. Country owes a lot to this mans music and I am so happy I didn't have to spend a fortune to find a lot of my favorites in one place!