Search - Dottie West :: Absolutely the Best

Dottie's most popular period

Peter Durward Harris | Leicester England | 01/10/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"One of my favorite country singers, Dottie spent 14 years with RCA and 7 with United artists. I liked all her music but I liked her RCA work best - however, this is clearly a minority view as the United artists years, represented on this collection, proved to be Dottie's best years in terms of commercial success. This particular collection contains 14 of the 20 tracks previously released on Are you happy baby, an out of print collection on the Razor and tie label.



One of the notable features Dottie's career during this period were her duets with Kenny Rogers. They recorded two albums together and another single, although Kenny also recorded duets with Kim Carnes, Sheena Easton and Dolly Parton during this period. On this collection, Kenny duets with Dottie on Every time two fools collide, Anyone who isn't me tonight, All I ever need is you and What are we doing in love, all of which were top three country hits, with three of them going all the way to number one.



Dottie had two number one country hits of her own during this period, something she had never achieved during her years at RCA although she came close. A lesson in leaving also made the American pop charts and was more recently revived by Jo Dee Messina. Are you happy baby provide Dottie with her second and last solo number one.



Curiously, none of the other tracks here made the country top ten although many of them made the top twenty. Still, you can't measure records purely by their chart success and there are some great songs here. I particularly like Come see me and come lonely (a lovely ballad) and I'm gonna put you back on the rack (a sassy up-tempo song).



Traditional country fans should explore Dottie's RCA recordings first, represented by the out of print Essential and the more recent Country legends. The recordings on this collection are more pop sounding but still essentially country. If you enjoy contemporary country, you will surely enjoy this."

The Title Says It All

Book 'Em, Danno | Minneapolis, MN USA | 10/11/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Dottie West was such a major talent in country music, taken from us too soon. Unfortunately, her work will more than likely never be acknowledged as it deserves to be, alas, no box sets or the like. This collection is the closest you'll find to a complete gathering of her biggest hits. It is a very good retrospective, although it focuses only on her late 70's and early 80's hits and ignores her groundbreaking work from the 60's. Regardless, this is the material most fans will remember, compiled in one place. Combine this with the RCA Country Legends album that's been released for an excellent and thorough overview of her impressive career."

The Title of This CD is Right On!

Don Williams | Alexandria, Virginia USA | 11/02/2002

(5 out of 5 stars)

"If you have heard Dottie before or not you need this CD. The songs here are from when her career was on FIRE. Enjoy."