Kenny Rogers Greatest Hits 1988

Glad I bought it .

Good

This collection is compiled from Kenny's most successful period - the years from 1976 to 1983 when he recorded for United Artists. As such, it does not include Islands in the stream or any of the other music he recorded for RCA after he left United Artists. To get that, you must buy a separate collection of his RCA music, or go for the boxed set that includes everything that matters, and which I've already reviewed, or buy a Dolly Parton compilation (plenty of those include the song).The recordings of Ruby don't take your love to town, Reuben James and Something's burning are not the originals that Kenny recorded with the First Edition - these are re-recordings that Kenny made in 1977, originally for the compilation LP titled Ten years of gold. However, there re-re-recordings are as good as the originals but slightly more polished. To get the originals of those three songs, you need a Kenny Rogers and the First edition compilation or the boxed set already mentioned. The remaining seventeen songs are the original recordings of the hits that Kenny had on the country and pop charts in the late seventies and early eighties, several of which became international hits.Two of these songs - Lucille (my favorite Kenny Rogers song) and Coward of the county, became UK number one pop hits - they were also top five pop hits in America. Kenny also took the original version of Ruby don't take your love to town to number two in the UK in 1969 - it was also a top ten American hit. Something's burning and Lady were also major UK hits. None of the other songs here made much impact in the UK charts, but Kenny had many more hits in the American pop charts, including The gambler, She believes in me, You decorated by life and I don't need you. Of the songs here, Lady (number one for several weeks) was his biggest American pop hit. The majority of the songs on this compilation topped the country charts.One of the best songs here is Scarlet fever. It might have been a bigger hit than it actually was, but it was released as a single after Kenny had already moved to RCA. Even so, it was a top five country hit.Although Dolly Parton is missing, there are some brilliant duets here, featuring Dottie West (Till I can make it on my own, a cover of a Tammy Wynette song), Sheena Easton (We've got tonight, a cover of a Bob Seger song) and Kim Carnes (Don't fall in love with a dreamer).You can't fit all Kenny's classic songs from his years on United Artists on a single CD but all the essentials are here. If you only want one CD of Kenny's music, this is a good choice.