Dolly Parton Album: “Mission Chapel Memories 1971-1975”

Don't expect this to be another greatest hit album. Instead, this album is a combination of songs that show the best of Dolly's writing and pure country sound. For the majority, only two songs will stand out, Coat of Many Colors and Jolene. The others were never hits, and probably not even released to radio. For the most part this is a very decent album, and a must have for any Dolly fan. There are some songs that it is great that they have finally seen the light, but you just have to wonder if there were others one out there better. Some of the songs dont display the perfection of Dolly's voice, such as "Love is Only Strong and "Loneliness Found Me." The selection of songs are not that great but among them a few do stand out, such as "Mission Chapel Memories," which you can just visualize Dolly standing in a church singing this song. "Will he be Waiting" stands out for here you can listen to a young Dolly sign this song and than pop in the album The Grass is Blue and hear her sign that same song bluegrass style. A very lovely and unique song is "Sacred Memories" where Dolly tells a story and interjects hymns in the song. A very touching song. I would not recommend this album to someone who wants to hear the strength of Dolly's voice, but I would recommend it to someone who wants to experience the brillance of her songwriting ability.

First off, here are the tracks on this Australian compilation:

Coat Of Many Colors, If I Lose My Mind, The Mystery Of The Mystery, She Never Met A Man, Love Is Only As Strong, Will He Be Waiting?, Loneliness Found Me, Mission Chapel Memories, Comes & Goes, Oh He's Everything, He Left Me Love, Still On Your Mind, My Kind Of Man, Pleasant As May, Jolene, When Someone Wants To Leave, Living On Memories Of You, Lonely Comin' Down, Highway Heading South, Once Upon A Memory, Sacred Memories, The Bargain Store, On My Mind Again, When I'm Gone.

Now you probably see that there aren't too many hit singles in this collection. What these are, some of Dolly's great album cuts from her early 70's period. Most of these songs have never been released on CD. The albums sampled are: "Coat Of Many Colors", "Touch Your Woman", "My Favorite Songwriter, Porter Wagoner", "Bubbling Over", "Jolene", "Love Is Like A Butterfly" and "The Bargain Store". This is all hard core Dolly, prior to here pop crossover success in the mid 70's. The majority of these tracks were written by Dolly herself, with a handful by Porter Wagoner and one by her Uncle Bill Owens. If all you know of Dolly is "9 to 5" or "Here You Come Again" you may not be too impressed with this collection. But if you remember Dolly when she was more known for her songwriting skills and plantive singing style, then you'll want to pick this disc up. These are some great rare tracks from albums that haven't seen the light of day in years!!!

Fans of Dolly's classic material will surely be pleased by this new import from Raven records. Mission Chapel Memories contains material never before released on CD, with sound quality that sounds like the tracks were recorded yesterday! Be warned though, that this is not a Greatest Hits package, although it does contain some hits such as "Coat Of Many Colors" and "Jolene". Standout tracks on this album are the original version of "Will He Be Waiting", "When Someone Wants To Leave", "Sacred Memories", and "Pleasant As May". This CD is a must for Dolly fans!!