For an artist of her stature, Rosanne Cash has been the subject of surprisingly thin compilation releases. Several 10- and 12-track single disc collections have been issued, but only Raven's imported 21-track
Blue Moons and Broken Hearts and to a lesser extent Legacy's earlier
Very Best Of really dug beyond the hits. That list is now expanded with this two-disc, thirty-six track collection, featuring a song list picked and programmed by the artist herself. The set opens with "Can I Still Believe in You," from her 1978 self-titled Germany-only debut, and closes over thirty years later with a trio of tracks drawn from 2009's
The List. The latter selections include a cover of Mickey Newbury's "Sweet Memories" previously available only on the Borders Books version of
The List.
Included are all eleven of Cash's country chart-toppers, seventeen of her twenty country chart entries, and tracks drawn from all twelve studio albums she's recorded for Ariola, Columbia and Capitol/EMI. There are augumented with bonuses drawn from earlier antholgies, and duets from albums by Vince Gill ("If It Weren't For Him") and Rodney Crowell ("Its Such a Small World"). The bulk of the collection is devoted to Cash's tenure with Columbia, with the second half of disc two stepping through her more recent work for Capitol/EMI. These latter tracks find Cash reinventing herself from a country hit maker to a writer, album auteur and Grammy nominee. This plays out as a worthy soundtrack for Cash's recent memoir,
Composed, provides a terrific overview of her hits and a useful guide to the rich album tracks in her catalog.
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