Clint Black Album: “Ultimate Clint Black”

Description :

Producers: James Stroud, Mark Wright, Clint Black. <p>Compilation producer: Gretchen Brennison. <p>Includes liner notes by Michael Hill. <p>A 20-track compilation that covers the entirety of Clint Black's decade-long association with RCA Records (1989-1999), THE ULTIMATE CLINT BLACK emphasizes the South Texas-based crooner's strengths while minimizing the elements that kept Black from fully achieving the crossover success of his contemporaries Garth Brooks and Tim McGraw. Black is a pure-country singer of the old school, more George Jones than George Strait. His first two singles, "A Better Man" and "Killin' Time," overcome the slickness of their arrangements through Black's rich twang of a voice and his heartfelt, self-confident delivery. As the '90s progressed, Black's production and arrangements got rootsier, in opposition to prevailing trends, and while that didn't do much for his sales figures, it does mean that the later material on this disc doesn't sound nearly as dated as the records many of the so-called "hat acts" were making at the same time. A smartly-chosen compilation with no filler, THE ULTIMATE CLINT BLACK is a handy pr?cis of a skilled, underrated singer's best years.

All of the tracks on this CD are excellent and I would recommend it to anyone who doesn't have Clint's previous CDs. That said, this is nothing other than attempt by RCA to milk as much cash out of Clint's music as they can since Clint chose not to renew his contract with them last year. This is in fact the second compilation of Clint Black's music that RCA has released within the last 10 months! (Super Hits was released earlier this year.) Buy this record if you don't have many of these songs on another CD or cassette. But if you already have most of this music and have a limited budget, you might want to wait until Febuary 2004 when Clint will release a brand new album.

Despite what other reviews may state, Clint Black had nothing to do with the release of this album. Even though Clint is no longer with RCA, the record company retains the right to the original recordings that Clint released while under contract with them. In other words, RCA can continue to release greatest hits compilations like this for years to come under as many different names they can think of and Clint Black can do nothing about it.

Clint Black is one of those singers I used to hear on the radio during the 70s and 80s, before country turned to pseudopatriotic, jingoistic drivel by the late 90s. Her songs, like those of many other country singers and groups, were always good ones, but I would always forget the name of the artist by the time I got to a store that sold CDs. Now, I'm making up for lost time, and, slowly but surely rounding out my store of country CDs.