Search - Alan Jackson :: Very Best of

Summary of his career up to 2003

Peter Durward Harris | Leicester England | 10/25/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I can already hear (and read about) people complaining about record company exploitation. After all, this compilation was released on a year or so after Greatest hits 2 and contains eleven of the same tracks, with the other nine coming from his earlier hits collection. So this does seem rather superfluous. But wait. Alan Jackson has fans in the UK (I am one of them) but his fan base is not that large especially in comparison with America. His UK record company had never made any real effort to promote his music in the UK, relying mainly on advertising in country music magazines and getting airplay on specialist country music programs on the radio. I am assuming that this compilation signals a change in policy and that this album was marketed more widely. If that were so, it would make sense. You can't suddenly start giving a big promotional push to a second volume of greatest hits by an artist who has never had a hit single (or if he has, it has escaped my notice). Obviously, his existing fans won't buy this but it might win him a lot of new fans.



Alan's brand of traditional country, with just enough of a contemporary edge to appeal to a modern generation, provides a contrast with the prevailing pop country normally recorded by Nashville's major label singers. This collection contains twenty of his best songs from his career up to 2003 and therefore is the first compilation of his music combining early classics like Don't rock the jukebox, Chattahoochee and Gone country with more recent classics like Little bitty and Where were you when the world stopped turning.



Many of the songs are upbeat, happy songs but I was drawn to his music originally by Here in the real world, a sad song that Alan delivers superbly, which was the title track of his debut album. Alan writes or co-writes most of his own material, but has also demonstrated his brilliance with covers. On this collection, you will find covers of Tall tall trees (George Jones), It must be love (Don Williams), Pop a top (Jim Ed Brown) and Who's cheating who (Charly McClain).



If you are new to Alan's music and don't want to buy two greatest hits albums, this will provide an ideal introduction to his music. Of course, some great songs were left out but the most important songs of his career to 2003 are all here. If you already have one of the earlier hits collections, don't buy this - buy the other hit collection instead. Then you'll have all the tracks here and all his other classic songs from the period covered."