As one review has already stated, these are not the original recordings. The sad thing is that it is packaged as if it is a quality disc. The art work is misleading and the title Essential has recently been used on a number of original recording sets. The fine print, once you know to look for it, only says, disc one 1996. However it is blended in to the middle of the paragragh on the back. Major con jop. Shame on this record company. The only redeeming quality is that John died in 1997 and there is some sentimental value to the fact that these recordings were so close to his passing.
I'm going to add my voice to those on here warning that this 2-CD set on the Madacy label is DECEPTIVE MERCHANDISING!! The first disc has the songs that are more of a "greatest hits" selection, with well-known songs of John Denver's like "Rocky Mountain High," "Leaving On a Jet Plane," "Sunshine On My Shoulders," and the like, but when I listened to them I could immediately tell that they're clearly NOT the original recordings. I assume that some years later John Denver re-recorded them, although why he did that I don't know. I do disagree with several reviewers here who say that these re-recordings are "pitiful," that John sounded "tired" and so on. These later re-recordings sound good, and actually I think it's interesting to hear John reinterpret his hits years later. However, what made me angry is that I bought this set as part of my collection of 1970s recordings, but after I discovered that the songs here that should have been recorded in the 1970s were NOT, I had to order a DIFFERENT John Denver collection!! (see links below) The second CD here is actually a re-issue of Denver's very good album "Windsong." Therefore, Madacy did not assemble a best-of collection here as the title implies, but simply cobbled together material haphazardly. And nowhere does the packaging tell the unsuspecting buyer what is really going on here.
Don't confuse this deceptive John Denver collection on the Madacy label with LEGITIMATE 2-CD sets of the same name,
on the RCA label, or the eco-friendly packaged version that adds several songs,
on the Sony Legacy label, that are legitimate because they really ARE "best-of" collections and ARE original recordings. (I bought the eco-friendly version to replace the deceptive Madacy set.) Also, these legitimate CD sets are digitally remastered and contain a lot more songs than the deceptive Madacy set has - 14 more songs with the standard RCA version and 22 more songs with the eco-friendly Sony Legacy version.
This is simply a great album packed with fantastic songs. If some of them were recorded in the 90's, HOORAY! John's voice was even richer and better then.
