A versatile and classy performer

Emmylou has always been a singer that focused on albums. Her music covered a wide variety of styles, but each album had its own style, although the changes in style became even more dramatic in the nineties. This compilation brings together tracks from all those differently styled albums from the mid-seventies to the late eighties. If you are familiar with her more recent music via albums like Wrecking ball and Red dirt girl but not her earlier music, I must warn you that this is a country music anthology.

During the period covered by this compilation, Emmylou had many hits on the American country charts including five solo number one hits, all cover versions and all included here. They were Together again (Buck Owens), Sweet dreams (Patsy Cline), Two more bottles of wine (Delbert McClinton), Beneath still waters (George Jones) and a live recording of Lost his love on our last date (Floyd Cramer). Emmylou also had a number one hit with To know him is to love him (a cover of the fifties pop hit by the Teddy Bears), which she recorded with her friends Dolly Parton and Linda Ronstadt and which is also included here. We believe in happy endings, a duet with Earl Thomas Conley, also reached number one but you have to buy Emmylou's Duets album to get that - it's not here.

Emmylou had many other big country hits with cover versions, including If I could only win your love (Louvin brothers), Here there and everywhere (Beatles), which was a minor UK pop hit, You never can tell C'Est la vie (Chuck Berry), Save the last dance for me (Drifters), Blue Kentucky girl (Loretta Lynn) and The boxer (Simon and Garfunkel).

Dolly Parton wrote To Daddy and recorded it for her 1976 album All I can do, but Emmylou heard it and recorded it herself. When Dolly heard Emmylou's version, she substituted another song for her own album, although Dolly's version was eventually released on a compilation CD many years later. Thus, Emmylou's version, included here, is the first one the public heard.

Another notable feature of Emmylou's career is the vast number of duets that she has recorded, though the only ones here (apart from the Trio track) are That loving you feeling again (with Roy Orbison) and If I needed you (with Don Williams).

In the early years, it was rare for Emmylou to write songs, but she co-wrote Boulder to Birmingham, one of her earliest successes. She wrote more as the years went by, particularly on the concept album Ballad of Sally Rose, an album she co-wrote with Paul Kennerley and which is represented here by Rhythm guitar, White line and Timberline, but she didn't really write much until the nineties - after the period covered by this anthology.

This is a great introduction to Emmylou's music of the seventies and eighties for any country music fans new to it.

Almost Perfect Collection Of Emmylou Harris Classics

Unlike many of her country music colleagues in the 1970s, Emmylou Harris didn't record singles and pad an album around them. She recorded detailed, consistent, expensive, and high-quality albums and pulled the songs with the highest commercial potential for singles. Listening to ANTHOLOGY: THE WARNER/REPRISE YEARS and comparing it to recordings by other stars of the 1970s and 1980s is a revelation. There is no contest in terms of the quality of songs and the breath-taking beauty and power of the performances. This compilation features six of her #1 hits: "Together Again", "Sweet Dreams", "Two More Bottles Of Wine", "Beneath Still Waters", "(Lost His Love) On Our Last Date", and "To Know Him Is To Love Him". (Her seventh #1, "We Believe In Happy Endings" was originally released on the BMG label and wasn't licensed for this collection.) I've listened to lots of country music collections lately and found only three or four songs half as incredible as "White Line", "Beneath Still Waters", "Boulder To Birmingham", "Save The Last Dance For Me", "Easy From Now On" or "In My Dreams". These songs are just the beginning. ANTHOLOGY features Emmylou Harris' legendary heart breaking ballads "Making Believe", "Beneath Still Waters", "Sweet Dreams", and "On Our Last Date". Her uptempo material is terrific, just listen and love "In My Dreams", "C'est La Vie", "Two More Bottles Of Wine", "White Line", and "Heaven Only Knows". In addition, its hard not to be impressed by "If I Could Only Win Your Love", "To Know Him Is To Love Him", "That Lovin' You Feelin' Again", "Save The Last Dance For Me", "Here, There And Everywhere", "Boulder To Birmingham", and "Heartbreak Hill". ANTHOLOGY is the beginning of Rhino Records updating the extraordinary Emmylou Harris catalog - a collection of quality music without equal. Emmylou Harris brought the beauty and emotional resonance of traditional music back to a country music era that desperately needed a lesson about its own past. Harris was also the chief leader in bringing rock music's album orientated approach to a country music audience that had been fed cheaply manufactured LPs reminiscent of pre-Beatles rock records.

ANTHOLOGY is a completely different type of compilation from 1996's excellent PORTRAITS box set. PORTRAITS is a great collection that highlights Emmylou Harris' artistry, though I find the minimal coverage of the 1982-1987 years disappointing. ANTHOLOGY functions more as a greatest hits collection, its an almost perfect in this matter except that it omits "I Don't Have To Crawl" from EVANGELINE. Hopefully, EVANGELINE will be issued soon. ANTHOLOGY corrects many of the omissions that were made on the original greatest hits collections, the highly enjoyable PROFILE series. PROFILE II released in 1984 omits "The Boxer", "That Lovin' You Feelin' Again", "I Don't Have To Crawl", "If I Needed You", "Tennessee Rose", "So Sad", "Drivin' Wheel", and "In My Dreams". which were released as singles between 1979-1984 the years that compilation covers. ANTHOLOGY collects most of these songs, but in Emmylou Harris' rich catalog the only box set that would work is one that features all her songs.

ANTHOLOGY succeeds immensely because it collects most of the singles not featured on PROFILE or PORTRAITS, (the omission of "I Don't Have To Crawl" does bother me), and all of the songs released as singles after the 1984 release of PROFILE II. It's hard to argue with what's here in terms of hits "If I Could Only Win Your Love", "Sweet Dreams", "Easy From Now On", "Save The Last Dance For Me", "Born To Run", "Pledging My Love", "White Line", "Heartbreak Hill", as ANTHOLOGY is essentially a greatest hits collection, even if Emmylou Harris is recognized for her album artistry. The single versions of "Mister Sandman" and "Tennessee Rose" are welcome. "Mister Sandman" was re-recorded by Harris after the "TRIO Project" was cancelled. The version with Linda Ronstadt and Dolly Parton is available on PORTRAITS and (though still not available) EVANGELINE. The version here is featured on PROFILE II, and the song is different. When CIMARRON spent its ten-plus years as a cassette only release, the instrumental ending to "Tennessee Rose" was replaced by the vocal harmony fade-out of the single, which is also a shorter version. Eminent's exceptional reissue of CIMARRON featured the original version with the instrumental backing as opposed to the vocal harmony ending. I don't know why the collection lists certain tracks: "Sweet Dreams", "I'm Movin' On", "On Our Last Date", and "So Sad" as being live versions. If studio versions exist they have yet to be released, ANTHOLOGY features the same "Sweet Dreams" as ELITE HOTEL, PROFILE, and PORTRAITS. On ELITE HOTEL "Sweet Dreams" was one of three live tracks which showcased the Hot Band in concert, LAST DATE which features "I'm Movin' On", "So Sad", and "On Our Last Date" is a live album with the Hot Band. Another notable accomplishment of ANTHOLOGY is the first CD issue of two tracks from THIRTEEN, one of Harris' most underrated recordings, "I Had My Heart Set On You" and "Today I Started Loving You Again". This collection also features five of the six exclusive B-sides Emmylou Harris issued in the early 1980s: "Precious Love", "Fools Thin Air", "Colors Of Your Heart", "Another Pot O Tea" and "Maybe Tonight". "Precious Love" and "Fools Thin Air" have never been released on CD. Overall ANTHOLOGY is an excellent Emmylou Harris collection. The real place to experience her extraordinary talent is her catalog of incredible albums, still ANTHOLOGY is a wonderful introduction to one of the most talent artists of all-time.

Ya Gotta Love Emmylou

As with any CD collection, you are going to get a lot of great music and some that just doesn't please you. I would have added "Cimmaron", "Pancho and Lefty", "My Songbird" and a few others to this set, and left others out. I guess it all comes down to personal tastes. Still, there is some great music on these discs, and the set is a very good value.