Great Selection of Songs on Disc 1. Disc 2 Isn't Impressive.

"Definitive All-Time Greatest Hits" was released on the 35th anniversary of John Denver's first album and aims to be a comprehensive collection of Denver's most popular songs for a general audience, while providing big Denver fans who have everything with some previously unreleased material.



The first disc contains the hits: 20 songs representing 12 albums from 1969 to 1983 remastered from original studio recordings. Among the big hits which most everyone will recognize from radio airplay are "Sunshine On My Shoulders", the Tchaikovsky-inspired "Annie's Song", and "Fly Away", all of which reached #1 on the adult contemporary charts, "Take Me Home, Country Roads", "Rocky Mountain High", "Calypso", "Shanghai Breezes", "Wild Montana Skies" (duet with Emmylou Harris), and a live version of the twangy, upbeat "Thank God I'm a Country Boy". "Leaving on a Jet Plane", which John Denver wrote, was a hit for Peter, Paul & Mary, but Denver's version is also excellent. Casual John Denver fans will be pleased with this great selection of songs.



Disc 2 is "bonus" material: 4 previously unreleased recordings of "Leaving on a Jet Plane", "The Weight" (written and made famous by The Band), "Annie's Song", and "Calypso", for a total of about 14 minutes of material. This is the earliest recording of "Leaving on a Jet Plane", from 1966, recorded before John Denver got his first solo recording contract. "Annie's Song" and "Calypso" are acoustic versions with only guitar, mandolin, and voice. "The Weight" sounds good but just doesn't have the emotional impact of some other recordings of the song. The bonus tracks tend to have more prominent vocals than the same songs on disc 1, but the quality of the recordings is not as good.



Included is a small booklet that begins with an essay about John Denver by "Rolling Stone" contributing editor David Wild. That is followed by comments and stories about each song by Milt Okun, who was Denver's frequent producer and long-time friend. Dates of original recording and other vital info about each song are also provided, including the songs' highest achievement on the pop, country, and adult contemporary charts. No lyrics, unfortunately.

not a bad collection but there's better options

This is a great intro to some of John's best work, but when you call a collection "definitive" you are opening up yourself to a lot of second-guessing. In my opinion, the best thing about this CD are the acoustic versions of "Calypso" and "Annie's Song." To really get the best out of John, you have to be willing to go to some of the original albums. "On the Wings of a Dream" is an example of a beautiful late-era John Denver song not included here. And the live version of "Sweet Surrender" from Evening with John Denver. But those are debatable points. One non-debatable exclusion from this disc is "Matthew" - my personal favorite John Denver song, one of his greatest masterpieces, and in my opinion, the greatest country song of all time. Calling a John Denver collection "definitive" and not including "Matthew" is absurd. There is another greatest hits collection available, a two cd set, that has all three of the songs I mentioned above. I don't see it listed here, but it's out there. This collection is a good start, but I wouldn't want anyone to assume that by buying it, they are getting John's "definitive" best songs.

The collection I've been waiting for.

Like many, for years I had his vinyl era "Greatest Hits" album and loved it, but always missed a number of excellent songs. This includes all the songs I was missing, and everything else too. True there is even more to be heard, but this is as good as a single disc could be, and should be owned by any level of fan. Including the four track bonus disc, this is more than twice as long as his "Greatest Hits" was, and the sound is wonderful as well. To have "Take Me Home, Country Roads", "Rocky Mountain High", "Annie's Song", and "Back Home Again" on the same album is so pleasing, and improves many of my mornings. Regardless of whether you're a fan of soft rock, folk, or country, any fan of music should be moved by the songs of John Denver.