A Thoroughly Enjoyable Retrospective

Disc-1: All but the die-hard fans will be unfamiliar with the first twelve tracks recorded between 1956-66. These tracks are mostly of historical value and show Rogers working in a variety of styles (doo-wop, jazz, big band) both as a solo and with The Scholars and The Bobby Doyle Three. It is with "Just Dropped In"--The First Edition's quasi-psychedelic 1968 hit--that the material becomes more familiar. The rest of the disc includes the rest of that group's hits with the glaring omission of 1970's "Heed the Call." [Also worth noting is that these are all original recordings. Capitol Records has negotiated licensing agreements with Reprise, United Artists and Liberty, something that was NOT done with earlier compilations like Ten Years of Gold, Twenty Greatest Hits, and 20 Great Years which occasionally resorted to rerecording some of these songs.]

Disc-2: Rogers achieved superstar status in the Seventies. Each one of these songs peaked at No. 1 on the country chart. All but seven of them also placed in the Top 40 on the pop charts--including two No. 1 pop hits: "Lady" and his duet with Dolly Parton, "Islands in the Stream."

Disc 3: While not packed with hits like disc-2, all but two of the songs on this third disc ("While the Feeling's Good" and "The Greatest Gift of All") charted in the Top 40 on the country and/or pop chart, including one of Rogers' rare songwriting credits on "Sweet Music Man."

Disc-4: By the mid-Eighties, Rogers was no longer the guaranteed hit machine that he had been for the past decade. Only four of these songs went Top 10--all on the country chart--but these are all solid performances. And despite 1991's "If You Want To Find Love" being the most recent charting single on this box set, the final chapter on Rogers' career is yet to be written.

While this box is a bit pricey, it's the only way to show the breadth and depth of his career. RECOMMENDED

kenny rogers and the legend continues

Plenty of variety in Kenny's music

The first CD covers the early years, but only the last eight tracks represent his music with the First Edition, The first twelve tracks form a fascinating historical record, demonstrating that Kenny's roots were many and varied, but with plenty of jazz. The First Edition tracks are the original recordings. Kenny later re-recorded some of these songs, but although those re-recordings are often used on compilations of his music, EMI decided on this occasion to license the originals. The best known of these tracks is Ruby don't take your love to town, but Something's burning was also a big hit. Dolly revived But you know I love you in 1981 and actually had a bigger hit with the song than Kenny had.

The second CD contains all Kenny's American number one country hits of the seventies and eighties. These include three duets with Dottie West (a vastly under-appreciated singer), two duets with Dolly Parton (including Islands in the stream) and one each with Sheena Easton (We've got tonight) and Ronnie Milsap. Among his solo tracks on this CD, you will have your own favorites. Lucille is the song that turned me on to Kenny's music and I still think it's his best - but not by much. Tomb of the unknown love is much less well known than the earlier classics, but it is a wonderful song.

The third and fourth CD's cover the same period as the second CD, but they cover the hits that didn't reach number one. Again, there are three duets with Dottie and two with Dolly. Other duets feature Anne Murray, Holly Dunn and Nickie Ryder. Kim Carnes features twice - once in a duet with Kenny on Don't fall in love with a dreamer, and once singing with James Ingram and Kenny on What about me? My favorite solo tracks from these two CD's are Scarlet fever, Evening star and Blaze of glory, but there are many other brilliant songs here and your favorite may be different. Looking at other compilations, the obvious omissions are Love will turn you around and The long arm of the law. Neither of these are essential, but it's a pity that anything got left out in a collection of this nature.

So, this is a very interesting collection that covers Kenny's career up to 1997 in depth. I still get immense pleasure from listening to him, even though I've heard some of the songs hundreds of times.