John Anderson Album: “Greatest Hits [Warner Bros.]”

For reasons only Amazon knows, the pages for John's original greatest hits album on Warner (covering the early eighties) and his later greatest hits album for BNA (covering the nineties comeback) are linked, so reviews for either album are listed under both. This review refers to the earlier Warner collection though I plan to expand the review eventually to cover the comeback hits if I can't persuade Amazon to de-link the pages (I've tried before and failed) - in that unlikely event, I'll do a separate review and remove this paragraph from here.

With a voice and musical style that has echoes of, but which is distinct from, Merle Haggard, John Anderson burst on to the country music scene in 1980. He was a regular country hit-maker for much of the eighties but faded towards the end of that decade. He made a successful comeback on a different record label in the nineties.

I quickly became a huge fan of John's music. His debut album was a classic, featuring songs such as 1959, She just started liking cheating songs and (best of all) Your lying blue eyes. All of them became top twenty hits in the country charts. Bigger hits came later including some on this collection but those first three hits are (to my ears) as good as anything else that he ever recorded.

Among those bigger hits are Swinging (the biggest hit John ever had - it crossed over to the American pop charts), I'm just an old chunk of coal, Would you catch a falling star and Black sheep. Later eighties hits can be found on volume 2.

If you love the music of Merle Haggard and George Jones, you'll surely enjoy listening to John Anderson. And if you only buy one collection of John's music, the original Greatest Hits - the one on Warner - is the one to go for until and unless a more comprehensive collection appears. If you enjoy this collection and want to hear more, go for volume 2 or the BNA collection or both.

This is what country music lacks today, the passion of John Anderson. All these mindless, "popcountry" songs are no match for ANY song by John Anderson.

I LOVE THE COUNTRY MUSIC OF THE SIXTIES, SEVENTIES AND EIGHTIES. DURING THESE ERAS EVERY COUNTRY MUSIC ARTIST HAD AN INDIVIDUAL SOUND THAT YOU NEVER MISTOOK THEM FOR SOMEONE ELSE. JOHN ANDERSON FITS INTO SUCH A CATEGORY. HE HAS A UNIQUE, EASILY IDENTIFIABLE VOICE THAT TAKES MERE WRITTEN WORDS AND TURNS THEM INTO EMOTIONS AND FEELINGS. THIS PARTICULAR CD HAS MOST OF MY FAVORITE JOHN ANDERSON SONGS (WITH THE EXCEPTION OF CHICKEN TRUCK!). FOR IT TO BE PERFECT IT WOULD ONLY NEED TO ADD "COLD, COLD HEART"! A CONDITION I DON'T THINK JOHN ANDERSON COULD EVER BE ACCUSED OF HAVING CONSIDER THE PASSION WITH WHICH HE SINGS!

This is certainly the type of country music that I prefer and the album is great with songs I remember well. The product was shipped promptly and received in good condition and I will order again.

My favourite song is I Just Came Home To Count The Memories