Search - T.G. Sheppard :: T.G. Sheppard - All-Time Greatest Hits

Ladies Man By The Numbers

R. N. Lynch | 01/26/2001

(3 out of 5 stars)

"In his skin-tight jeans and insinuating voice, Sheppard came on like a love god who could only be satisfied by the hottest angel in honky tonk heaven. Those who blame the likes of Shania Twain and Faith Hill for taking the country out of country music should get a load of these formulaic songs that topped the charts 20 years ago. Barely this side of Barry Manilow in their calculated appeal, these interchangeable tunes are a long pickup ride from Merle Haggard and George Jones or anything halfway authentic. Still, you can't help but love the rollicking piano work in "Party Time," the best song in the collection, or the ribald storytelling in "Do You Wanna Go To Heaven." Forgettable country pop done to perfection. Let's hope Sheppard cashed in--big--on his popularity before he faded into obscurity."

Yet Another Minimal-Track And Misleading Release

Peter Durward Harris | 08/11/2007

(3 out of 5 stars)

"Judging by those 5-star reviews, some people are easily satisfied. That may have been alright at the start of the CD age when most of the big companies rushed out minimal-track compilations covering their stars which also contained absolutely nothing in the way of background notes. Such as this one from Warner.



It also misleads to some degree by claiming to be his "all time greatest hits" which, to anyone who followed his career, was clearly stretching things a bit. They ARE certainly representative of his all time greatest with Warner/Curb as tracks 1 to 4, 6, 7, and 9 to 12 were all # 1, with I Loved 'Em Every One, Only One You, and Finally all crossing over to the Billboard Pop Hot 100 [at # 37, 68, and 58 respectively]. Another crossover, Make My Day with Clint Eastwood in 1984, went to # 52 Hot 100 as well as # 12 Country, but that is not included.



Track 8 was a # 6 Country in 1980 and Somewhere Down The Line a # 3 in 1984. Faking Love, a # 1 for 4 weeks in late 1982/early 1983 was a duet with with Karen Brooks.



But T.G. goes all the way back to late 1974 when his first release on the Melodyland label, Devil In The Bottle, was also a # 1, as was his second release, Tryin' To Beat The Morning Home. Between those, and the first included here [Last Cheater's Waltz], he added two more Melodyland hits, four for Hitsville, and another six for Warner/Curb, including a # 8 1978 cover of The Turtles' 1967 hit Happy Together.



Between Faking Love and Slow Burn he had a # 12 with Without You, a # 57 duet with Judy Collins on Home Again in 1984 for the Elektra label, and in 1984/85 added two more Warner/Curb hits with One Owner Heart [# 4] and You're Going Out Of My Mind [# 10]. In 1985 he joined Columbia and put up nine more hits to 1988, including the # 1 Strong Heart in 1986, and three # 2 hits. His last came in 1991 for Curb/Capitol when Born In A High Wind petered out at # 63.



It's not a bad bargain, certainly, at the price indicated, and the AAD sound quality is excellent. But 12-track compilations without any background information or discography are no longer acceptable. Consumers now want a bigger bang for their buck, especially when the CDs cover stars from the past with many years of success. In Sheppard's case, that was 42 Country charters from 1974 to 1991, including 14 # 1 hits (more than the number of tracks on the CD under review) and seven that ranged from # 2 to # 5. Seven were crossovers to the Billboard Pop Hot 100 and six to the Adult Contemporary charts.



How about a decent 25-track release?"

A good but not complete sampling of greates hits

R. N. Lynch | 01/24/2005

(4 out of 5 stars)

"T.G. Sheppard had a good run of hits in the 70's and 80's and this album samples his better known songs such as "War is Hell..." "Finally" and "Party Time".

Sheppard is very good at singing the ballad, the cheating song and the love song or even the rare "whimsical song" such as his duet with Clint Eastwood in "Go Ahead, Make My Day" not included here, and that is why he was among country's superstars during this era.

This is a good album to sample his talent."