Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Get Lynn Anderson's 24 Track Greatest Hits instead, May 16, 2006
Lynn Anderson's rich recording catalog has been neglected for most of the digital era. Thankfully, Collectors Choice Music put together the 24-track Greatest Hits two years ago. It was the first cd to combine hits from Anderson's '60s Chart Records and '70s Columbia Records tenures. Now there is also this 16 Biggest Hits which includes many of the tracks found on that superior set.
Signing with Chart Records in 1966, Anderson was an immediate success thanks in large part to mom Liz's songwriting. These songs - like "If I Kiss You" and "Promises, Promises" - featured clever wordplay that played off her youthful exuberance. Also, the heartbreaking "Big Girls Don't Cry" which showed Anderson's adeptness with ballads.
At Columbia, Joe South's compositions "Rose Garden," "Fool Me," and "How Can I Unlove You" provided Anderson with an early boost. Even more important was the writing and production involvement of husband Glenn Sutton, whom Anderson married just prior to joining Columbia. At Columbia, Sutton matched the brisk pace of Anderson's best Chart recordings with his narcissistic songwriting efforts "You're My Man" and "What A Man, My Man Is." He also encouraged Anderson to stretch stylistically, with the breezily seductive "Sing About Love" and a remake of Johnny Ray's "Cry" that showed she could effectively go from delicate to bombastic within the course of a song.
The only recording on 16 Biggest Hits that isn't on Greatest Hits is her first hit, "Ride, Ride, Ride." It is essential, but there are far many (nine) other hits included on Greatest Hits that aren't found here. The omissions include hit remakes of "I've Been Everywhere" and "Rocky Top" which displayed Anderson at her most irresistibly chipper, and the witty tale of exasperation "Talkin' To The Wall." If you can only afford one Lynn Anderson disc and can live without "Ride, Ride, Ride," Greatest Hits is the far better collection and value.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Country Queen Lynn Anderson's Biggest and Best, September 21, 2009
She doesn't get much credit for it these days but for a decade or so, Lynn Anderson was one of country music's biggest stars and top 3 or 4 female vocalists. This 16 BIGGEST HITS collection is from those years 1966-1975 and includes 13 of her 18 Billboard top ten country songs. This album is roughly divided between her years on Chart Records (1966-1970) and Columbia Records (1970-1980); it's great to see the Chart songs in this collection but since she was a considerably bigger star during the Columbia era perhaps those tracks should have dominated the collection. Most of her biggest hits are here with the notable exception of LISTEN TO A COUNTRY SONG which I feel should have replaced the enjoyably risque FLATTERY WILL GET YOU EVERYWHERE which just missed being a top ten record. RIDE RIDE RIDE, her first hit, also didn't go top ten but I feel it deserves it's slot being the song that introduced her to the country audience big time. During the Chart era, many of her songs were written by her talented singer-songwriter mother Liz Anderson including the brillant IF I KISS YOU (still one of Anderson's best performances ever), PROMISES PROMISES, and BIG GIRLS DON'T CRY, at Columbia her husband/record producer Glenn Sutton wrote much of her material including the #1's YOU'RE MY MAN, KEEP ME IN MIND, and WHAT A MAN MY MAN IS.
Lynn's two biggest hits were the Joe South songs ROSE GARDEN and HOW CAN I UNLOVE YOU, the former of course being an international smash and multi-million seller, earning Lynn every major award during the 1970-71 season for a country female singer. This is a terrific package of much of the best work of one of country music's best female vocalists.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Absolutely essential, May 29, 2009
I've been a fan of Lynn Anderson since the age of 5, and these songs are dear to my heart. The remastering of these original recordings has made them crackle with energy that has addicted me all over again. Listening to this on headphones, hearing all the instruments clearly, and hearing the songs the way they are supposed to sound... it's just amazing. I truly hope that more of her back catalog can be released in this way. Thank you so much.
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