Customer Reviews

The Very Best of Dickey Betts: 1973-1988 Bougainvilleas Call

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This excellent compilation includes all the best of Dickey Betts' best work between the mid-seventies and late 1980's. The lone Allman Brothers Band track from 1973, "Ramblin' Man," was the band's biggest radio hit ever, penned and sung by Betts.

There are four tracks from his debut solo album, "Highway Call", and a great live track with Betts joined by the Charlie Daniels Band andfriends during a Volunteer Jam. "Sweet Mama," written by Billy Joe Shaver rocks. There is also and live Betts track, "No Hard Times" that originally appeared on the Capricorn Records release "Hotel, Motels and Road Shows."

Four tracks each from both of his Dickey Betts and Great Southern releases join two tracks from The Dickey Betts Band (featuring Warren Haynes and Matt Abts, later of Gov't Mule, and keyboard wiz Johnny Neel.)

It's a great collection that flows along with ease, showcasing all the various sides of Betts, from country to blues, jazz and even gospel. A fine tribute to "The Ramblin' Man."

I don't have this album as I already own all but one of the tracks. However, if I was to put together a best-of for Dickie Betts I couldn't really improve on this. This albums gives an excellent picture of Betts' development as an artist over a 15 year period and covers, country, rock, blues with a little jazz thrown in to round out a ripper of an album. Shame about the cover though.

This is a good collection of Dickey Bett's solo work, not only does it contain tracks from the two albums he recorded with Great Southern and his first solo album Highway Call, it also includes 2 hard to find tracks, No Hard Times from the Hotels Motels and Road Shows (the long out of print Capricorn sampler ) and Sweet Mama (recorded version on the Allman Brothers Band album Win Lose or Draw). This live version was taken from a performance at Charlie Daniels Volunteer Jam. It unfortunately includes only one song recorded with the Allman Brothers Band the classic Ramblin' Man (Blue Sky should have been incuded too) It does however include two tracks from his great 1989 solo album Pattern Disruptive (Rock Bottom, Duane's Tune). This is a pretty solid compilation that makes for some great listening.