Search - Conway Twitty :: High Priest of Country Music

Conway's Essential Country Recordings

Steve Dossey | 07/13/2000

(4 out of 5 stars)

"This collection of Conway's music focuses on his country music recording career from 1968 until his death. It collects most but not all of his number one country hits. The sound of the CD is fresh and sonically bold. What I appreciated about the collection is the inclusion of his earlier country material which holds up much better than his 80's-90's output which veared from the honty tonk steal guitar sound that first got him on the charts. Although Conway was sort of the poor man's Elvis, his strong voice works well in the country ballad milleau. If one wants the early rock n roll or more emphasis on the later pop oriented songs, another collection would be better. Too bad this style of country music isn't found on the charts today."

A good start to a fabulous career

Jerry McDaniel | 01/02/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"the 24 hits on this collection are a random collection culled from the years between 1968 and 1981. i disagree with the other reviewer that said Conway's 1980's and 1990's material doesn't hold up against his '60s and '70s material. Conway had #1 and Top-10 hits non-stop from 1968-1991 in country music so i can't understand that point of view from the other reviewer. anyway, these 24 songs are all great. i was born in 1976 and so i'll admit i'm bias toward the '80s and '90s Conway because that was the material i grew up listening to and found nothing wrong with. this collection ends with his early 1982 #1 hit, "Red Neckin' Love Makin' Night" which was first included on his 1981 MCA album called 'Mr. T' along with the other #1 hit "Tight Fittin' Jeans" which is also on this collection. His early 1981 #1 "Rest Your Love On Me" was the name of his 1980 MCA album and was the second single from the album. the first single from that album, the wonderful #2 Cashbox hit "A Bridge That Just Won't Burn" isn't on this collection however {that can be found on the 1982 MCA collection "Number Ones" even though that song didn't go #1!}. "I'd Love to Lay You Down", his 1980 #1 single, is one of my all-time favorites as is 1979's #1 "Don't Take It Away". the bulk of this collection is the '70s, with like 2 #1 singles from each successive year spotlighted {he'd have three to four #1 hits each year from 1968-1977, racking up 33 #1 hits in the process and adding 21 more #1 hits by 1990!!}. only 1976 features one #1 single, "The Games That Daddies Play"...his other 1976 #1 hit "After All The Good is Gone" isn't included. none of his classic duets with Loretta during 1971-1981 aren't on here. check titles that only spotlight their duet career for the duet recordings. his Top-10 hits from 1978 aren't included on here for some reason. "Boogie Grass Band" and "Your Love Had Taken Me That High" which hit #2 and #3 respectively in 1978 are always left-off collections it seems and they hardly get any spotlight. The title of this collection is taken from one of his 1975 MCA albums. Conway would release two or three studio albums a year in the '60s through the '80s; a practice that stopped in 1986 when one album a year for him became the norm. The cover of this collection is the same one used for 1982's "Number Ones" project i earlier talked about. His 1972 #1 "I Can't Stop Loving You" is outstanding. His signature #1 hits "Hello Darlin", "You've Never Been This Far Before", and "Linda On My Mind" are all here of course. Sadly, none of his wonderful #1 and Top-10 hits for Warner Brothers from 1982-1986 or his later MCA hits from 1987-1991 are on here. for those singles, seek out the 1994 box set 'The Conway Twitty Collection' but i'll warn you that his Warner Brothers songs aren't highlighted too great on that box set. only five singles are presented and he had 14 Top-10 hits for them in that four year span, 1982-1986, in which a whopping 11 of them hit #1. this is a wonderul collection for beginners just discovering Conway."