Most comprehensive single-disc collection available

Of the dozens of John Denver collections on the market, only a few seem the result of much thought and effort:



"The Country Roads Collection" (4CD box set)

"The Legendary John Denver" (3CD import)

"The Rocky Mountain Collection" (2CDs)

"Portrait" (2CDs)

"Seine grossen Erfolge" (2CD import)

"The Best of the Rocky Mountain Collection" (1CD import)

"John Denver's Greatest Hits" (1CD)

"John Denver's Greatest Hits Vol. 2" (1CD)

"John Denver's Greatest Hits Vol. 3" (1CD)



The three "Greatest Hits" volumes contain the key songs of his career, in my opinion. Missing are fan favorites here and there, which is always the case with compilations. Also missing (for the most part) are live versions, which is actually a benefit since those interested in this performer are encouraged to check out the terrific live albums available:

"An Evening with John Denver" 1CD and 2CD

"Live at the Sydney Opera House" 1CD

"Sing Australia" 1CD

"The Harbor Lights Concert" 2CD

"The Wildlife Concert" 2CD

"The Best of John Denver Live" (taken from "The Wildlife Concert") 1CD



While "Seine grossen Erfolge" has the fewest songs of the 2CD compilations, it does have the value of presenting "John Denver's Greatest Hits" on disc 1 and "John Denver's Greatest Hits Vol. 2" on disc 2. However, it is a hard-to-find German import.



"Portrait" is an odd compilation, including some "greatest hits" along with fan favorites like "The Wings That Fly Us Home" and songs that would seem to be Denver's personal favorites. With 34 songs and 4 live versions, "Portrait" lives up to its name, but I find that I rarely play it, perhaps because it paints a less memorable picture of this artist for me than the other compilations do, which rely less on post-70s material.



"The Legendary John Denver" costs about $18 from amazon.com and, as is usual in this import 3CD compilation series, mixes "greatest hits" with album tracks, though not in chronological order--each disc includes early and late tracks.



"The Rocky Mountain Collection" is to my mind the representative compilation on the market, offering 39 songs and (typically) exceptional liner notes by Colin Escott. It includes most of the songs from the three "greatest hits" volumes in a chronologically organized package.



"The Best of the Rocky Mountain Collection" is a single disc distillate of "The Rocky Mountain Collection." Its 20 songs include most of "John Denver's Greatest Hits" (minus 'For Baby [For Bobbie]' and 'The Eagle and the Hawk'), eight songs from "John Denver's Greatest Hits Vol. 2," and two songs from "John Denver's Greatest Hits Vol. 3." It also includes 'Sweet Surrender.'



In my opinion, "The Best of the Rocky Mountain Collection" is the most comprehensive single-disc compilation available. While I miss the missing tracks from the first greatest hits collection (and would gladly trade any number of tracks for 'Thank God I'm A Country Boy'), I think it's great to have 'Calypso,' 'This Old Guitar,' 'Sweet Surrender' and 'Wild Montana Skies' along with 'Rocky Mountain High,' 'Poems, Prayers and Promises,' 'Rhymes & Reasons,' and the other tracks from "John Denver's Greatest Hits."



My reservations about it are that, at about 75 minutes, it could have included one more song (say, 'The Eagle and the Hawk') and there are no liner notes.



Still, some care went into the packaging, with nice pictures, decent song credits, and original project credits (audio restoration, digital transfers, etc.) from the 2CD set. The disc was remastered "by Andy Pearce at Masterpiece Studios, London 2000." As Pearce has done quite a few remastering projects, it should come as no surprise that the sound on this one is excellent.

Beware the words "digitally remastered"

If you are a John Denver fan this disk will make you cry and not for the reasons you might expect. I turned it off after 5 tracks because I couldn't bare to listen to it any more. I had the feeling that someone had rummaged through some old discarded session tapes and had played them back through a pillow. The arrangements were definitely not what I was expecting and the quality was awful. I gave this recoding 1 star but only because they wouldn't let me out of the screen without filling in that field!