Collin Raye Album: “The Best of Collin Raye: Direct Hits”

Description :

This is an Enhanced CD, which contains both regular audio tracks and multimedia computer files. Personnel includes: Collin Raye (vocals); Billy Joe Walker, Jr. (acoustic & electric guitars); Biff Watson, Paul Worley (acoustic guitar); Dann Huff, Larry Byrom (electric guitar); Paul Franklin (steel guitar, dobro); Sonny Garrish (steel guitar); Steve Gibson (mandolin); Larry Franklin (fiddle); Will Smith (autoharp); Steve Nathan (piano); John Hobbs (keyboards); Joe Chemay (bass, background vocals); Paul Leim (drums); Anthony Martin, Gene Miller, Dennis Wilson, John Wesley Ryles (background vocals). Engineers include: Ed Seay, Steve Tillisch. Producers include: John Hobbs, Ed Seay, Paul Worley, Garth Fundis, Jerry Fuller. All tracks have been digitally remastered using HDCD technology. This is an Enhanced CD, which contains both regular audio tracks and multimedia computer files. Collin Raye, a Texarkana-born country crooner, is certainly ripe for a best-of. He's only the eighth country performer in history to have his first four albums go platinum, and his singles have raced each other to the top of the country charts for years. Starting as more of a heartbreak-and-beer songslinger, Raye's sensibilities were politicized along the way, and he began to tackle more "adult" issues of the sort that don't usually get addressed in top 40 country, like "Little Rock," which deals with alcoholism and "I Think About You," a tune that takes on the tender subject of domestic violence. Both his serious side and his honkytonkin' side are represented on this definitive collection, which also includes four brand new cuts.

There are several compilations of Collin's music to choose from but I believe this was the first. It contains ten tracks drawn from his first four albums together with four bonus tracks recorded specially for inclusion in the set. Collin had over twenty top ten country hits during his time recording for Epic. I don't think there is any compilation yet available that includes them all but this one provides a wonderful introduction to his music.

Only one track (Love, me) is taken from Collin's debut album (All I can be) while just two (In this life, That was a river) are from the follow-up (In this life). Four tracks (That's my story, My kind of girl, Little Rock, If I were you) come from Collin's third album (Extremes) and three tracks (I think about you, Not that different, One boy one girl) are taken from the fourth and most recent album represented here (I think about you). It is worth noting that Collin recorded two completely different songs titled If I were you - the other one can be found on his debut album.

The outstanding song here is I think about you - not a love song as the title might suggest, but an ode to Collin's eight-year-old daughter in which he wonders how her life might develop. Collin ponders various situations from celebrity status to being a victim of domestic violence and sings that whenever he sees a woman, he thinks of his daughter. It is a very touching, thought-provoking song. The set opens with Little Rock, a song about attempting to recover from alcoholism. Collin gets a bit rowdy on a couple of songs (That's my story, My kind of girl) but mainly sticks to the ballads that suit him best. Elsewhere, the album is filled with romantic love songs, which Collin excels at.

Collin mainly recorded original material but his first four albums included covers of Big river, Dreaming my dreams with you and Let it be me. None of those made it to this compilation but one of the four bonus tracks is a cover of Open arms. Originally recorded by Journey, Collin makes a fine job of it but I still prefer the version by the Burch sisters, a country trio who recorded one album (which I've reviewed) before returning to the obscurity from whence they came.

This is a great compilation of music by one of the leading country music stars of the early nineties.