Somebody should've got away with the opening track. Once past that, this is a fine CD. There are a lot of good, solid country songs (what else would you expect from John Anderson? ) There's slower tunes like the melancholy "Down in Tennessee" and "I Wish I Could Write You a Song". And then there's the rockers such as the hit "Let Somebody Else Drive" and a pull-out-all-the-stops cover of the Rolling Stones tune "I Used to Love Her (but it's all over now)".
The period covered by this second volume of hits (the mid-eighties) was not quite as successful for John as the early eighties, covered in the first volume, but this is nevertheless a fine collection.
Overall, this is a slightly mellow collection than the first volume although John shows that he can rock, country style, with his brilliant cover of It's all over now, a song generally associated with the Rolling Stones although their version was itself a cover. Another up-tempo classic here is Let somebody else drive, in which John dispenses sound advice about what to do at the end of a drinking session.
The slower songs are excellent including She sure got away with my heart, Down in Tennessee, Honky tonk crowd, You can't keep a good memory down, Going down hill, I wish I could write you a song and Countrified.
If you've heard some of John's music and like what you've heard, you'll love this set. If you haven't heard him, he sounds somewhat like Merle Haggard although their voices are sufficiently different that you are unlikely to confuse them.
First off, forget the generic artwork and the almost non existant notes.
This release is worth getting for 2 songs. One is "Down in Tennessee." This song is the masterpiece John Anderson should be remembered for. Unfortuately, it wasn't much of a hit and is mostly forgotten these days.
The other song is "Let Somebody Else Drive." It is one of those songs you don't realize you have heard until you hear it. It was a staple on country radio in the early 1980's. It really should have been featured in the first Greatest Hits collection, but I guess they needed to leave something for a volume 2. Which is probably a good thing, since Anderson hits dried up, as did most of his creativity, towards the later half of the 80's.
