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There's plenty of stuff about him on the Rolling Country threads (including this year's, re: his new album, and the last couple years, re: Like Red On A Rose, which is still the only great album I've ever heard by him); also, there's a really good Kelefah Sanneh piece on him in today's NY Times but here's some stuff I wrote here last year:
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Here's what's said about Alan Jackson's 16 Greatest Hits at countryuniverse.net:
Track Listing: Chattahoochee/Gone Country/It Must Be Love/Midnight in Montgomery/Chasin’ That Neon Rainbow/Don’t Rock the Jukebox/Mercury Blues/Here in the Real World/Pop a Top/That’d Be Alright/I Don’t Even Know Your Name/Gone Crazy/I’ll Go On Loving You/Little Man/Who’s Cheatin’ Who/Summertime Blues
It’s a tough call to make, given that every track here ranges from very good to legendary, but Alan Jacdkson already has two excellent Greatest Hits collections on the market, with a stunning 20-track first volume that covers his early career and a second volume with another 18 hits. Sure, this is the first compilation that covers both eras, but it doesn’t do it particularly well. Five of these sixteen songs are covers, which is far too many for a collection by one of the genre’s best singer-songwriters. And they didn’t have the courage to really include all of the biggest hits: “Where Were You (When the World Stopped Turning)”, “Drive (For Daddy Gene)”, “Livin’ on Love”, “It’s Five O’Clock Somewhere” and “Remember When” would be needed for this live up to its title.
Well, I agree that the CD would be better if “Where Were You (When the World Stopped Turning)”, “Drive (For Daddy Gene)”, and “It’s Five O’Clock Somewhere” were on it; I'd toss in "The Talkin' Song Repair Blues," too. But no way does "every track here range from very good to legendary," sorry. In fact, the only track I really really love is "Little Man," about big-money capitalism unseating the grass-roots mom-and-pop kind in a small town (though even in that one, the specifics about what items the store shelves are stocking don't always make a whole lot of sense). "Gone Country" (basically about folk singers and serious composers etc. selling out to Nashville) is better than I used to think (good characters, but that repeated "here she comes" hook still gets on my nerves); "Chatahoochie" is probably not as good as I used to think; "Don't Rock the Jukebox" was never all that great to begin with, but sure, they're all true hits. Lots of the other stuff is shrug-worthy though ("That'd Be Alright": zzzzzz), and yeah, too many covers -- "Pop A Top" is not bad, but "Mercury Blues" is pretty limp, and I seriously doubt anybody has ever hit with a lamer and more sexless version of "Summertime Blues." Otherwise, "Who's Cheatin' Who" and "I Don't Even Know Your Name" are mildly energetic at least (still weird hearing Alan say "I've never been too good at all those sexual games"). What's intersting, though, is that some of the better stuff I'd never thought much about before ("Midnight in Montgomery," "Gone Crazy," "I'll Go On Loving You") is sort of dark and understated in a way that prefigures Like Red On A Rose, still the only great Alan Jackson album I've ever heard. Not sure how it all adds up to Alan having any kind of personality, though; mostly, it convinces me he was born without one, which is what I've always thought. Still, I'm glad to own the best-of. But I could've made a much better one myself, and it would have had fewer than 16 songs on it.
-- xhuxk, Saturday, September 15, 2007 2:18 AM (5 months ago) Bookmark Link
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"Chatahoochie" is probably not as good as I used to think
But that's mainly because I used to think it was truly great -- like, Creedence Clearwater Revival great, if I remember what I first wrote about it in Radio On, where I probably gave it a half-point or so more than it deserved. But it's still probably my second-favorite song of the best-of's 16. Cool surf riff -- If, I dunno, the Black Lips or somebody like that covered it, it still has the potential to turn into a great record someday.
"better stuff I'd never thought much about before ("Midnight in Montgomery," "Gone Crazy," "I'll Go On Loving You")
The latter two of which are not all that memorable, regardless. But they sound decent when they're on.
-- xhuxk, Saturday, September 15, 2007 11:42 AM (5 months ago) Bookmark Link
― xhuxk, Monday, 25 February 2008 00:40 (sixteen years ago) link
five years pass...
one year passes...
Classic.
"Gone Country"'s mild snobbery, if that's the right word, has never sat quite well, as much as I really like the song, and he has his corny commercial side (Chattahoochee), but the guy seems to mean pretty well, and I've always (i.e. for more than two decades) liked his never-distinguished but always-solid voice. It may stop him from ever being great, but I think his humble unassumingness is the key to his appeal, and it gives an extra kick to when he allows himself some earthly pleasures, as on "Drive," or the Jimmy Buffett collab.
― benbbag, Tuesday, 21 October 2014 23:03 (nine years ago) link
nine months pass...
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one month passes...