Fretplay.com Dolly Parton guitar tabs CD reviews All I Can Do/New Harvest...First Gathering

Dolly Parton - All I Can Do/New Harvest...First Gathering Audio CD

Band: Dolly Parton Title: All I Can Do/New Harvest...First Gathering Rating: Release Date: 2007-03-19 Media: Audio CD Tracks: 1: All I Can Do 2: Fire That Keeps You Warm 3: When the Sun Goes Down Tomorrow 4: I'm a Drifter 5: Falling Out of Love with Me 6: Shattered Image 7: Boulder to Birmingham 8: Preacher Tom 9: Life's Like Poetry 10: Hey, Lucky Lady 11: Light of a Clear Blue Morning 12: Applejack 13: My Girl (My Love) 14: Holdin' on to You 15: You Are 16: How Does It Feel 17: Where Beauty Lives in Memory 18: (Your Love Has Lifted Me) Higher and Higher 19: Getting in My Way 20: There

A period of transition for Dolly
Three of Dolly's older albums were also released with bonus tracks although only the bonus tracks were new to CD, the main albums having already been made available on earlier releases. To coincide with Dolly's European tour of 2007, there were several CD releases including yet another best of compilation and three twofers (of which this is one) featuring six albums, five of which had never been released on CD while the other had only briefly been available in the early days of CD. This particular CD features two wonderful albums although they weren't among those that I most wanted to get on CD. I'd certainly have put Love is like a butterfly, Touch your woman, Bargain store and Bubbling over ahead of them. Still, if enough people buy this and the other available Dolly albums, maybe I'll get my preferred choices one day.

The first of the two albums here was also the last Dolly solo album in which Porter Wagoner was involved. Porter was once a hugely successful country singer in his own right, with a long string of country hits in the fifties and sixties (and a few later). Porter was the first singer to have success with Green green grass of home (it was a top five country hit for him), but just as that song is now associated with Tom Jones, so Porter is mostly remembered as the man who took Dolly from obscurity to stardom. On this 1976 album, he is credited as co-producer with Dolly. Of the songs, the title track was a top three American country hit with the only other American single, Hey lucky lady, scraping into the country top twenty. In Britain, Shattered image was released as a single and received plenty of airplay but didn't chart. The song received a new lease of life when Dolly re-recorded it for a more recent album, Halos and horns, with a different arrangement.

Life's like poetry (a cover of a Merle Haggard song) first appeared on Merle's album Keep movin' on. That album (as I said in my review of the twofer that featured it) has much of interest to Dolly fans including one song (Kentucky gambler) written by Dolly and another song (Always wanting you) written by Merle about Dolly. Another song here, Boulder to Birmingham (a cover of an Emmylou song) might have been Dolly's way of returning a compliment, Emmylou having covered Coat of many colors the year before. The two were great friends and one song (To Daddy) that Dolly wrote for this album didn't make the final cut. Emmylou recorded the song even before the album was released and Dolly dropped her own version thinking that Emmylou's version was better. Emmylou's version eventually appeared on her 1978 album, Quarter moon in a ten cent town, whence it was released as a single and became a top three country hit. Dolly eventually re-recorded the song for a live album, Heartsongs, and had a top twenty country hit with that version. Dolly's original 1976 version then became available on a compilation, I will always love you - the essential Dolly Parton volume one, that featured another rarity, a Dolly solo version of Real love, her 1985 country chart topping duet with Kenny Rogers. Having heard Dolly's 1976 version of To Daddy, I can say that it is brilliant and should never have been dropped from All I can do. It's a pity that the opportunity was not taken to include it as a bonus track here.

The remaining tracks on All I can do are all Dolly originals of a very high quality, these being The fire that keeps you warm (previously recorded as a Porter and Dolly duet), When the sun goes down tomorrow, I'm a drifter, Falling out of love with me (more recently recorded by Pinmonkey with Dolly) and Preacher Tom (which I seem to remember reading was the track that replaced To Daddy). So while this album comes behind the other four that I mentioned at the top of my review, it's not far behind them and I'm very pleased to have it on CD.

I'm also pleased to have New Harvest first gathering on CD, though it was further down my list of priorities. Following the split with Porter, Dolly co-produced the album with Gregg Perry. With this album, Dolly attempted but failed to get a slice of the pop action; the album was still essentially country but caused some disquiet among country fans at the time. As we all know, time works in mysterious ways and it now seems that a lot of Dolly fans wanted this album more than any other to be made available on CD. (Having seen how internet surveys are sometimes conducted, I do wonder about the reliability of those findings. )

The one solidly country track here is Applejack, which ought to have been released as a single but wasn't because Dolly was trying to establish her credentials as a pop singer. (So why was it included on the album? As a token to country fans?) The big single here was Light of a clear blue morning (which has been covered by Glen Campbell among others), which didn't quite make the country top ten. It's interesting to note that this song appears less frequently on Dolly compilations than Applejack. The album includes covers of Higher and higher (Jackie Wilson's song that also provided Rita Coolidge with a pop hit) and My love (a gender adaptation of the Temptations classic, My girl). The remaining songs, all original, include a nice mix of up-tempo songs and ballads, two of the latter (You are, Where beauty lives in memory) being particularly noteworthy.

So here are two great Dolly albums. Buy them to encourage further releases.

Dolly Parton collector
Great, great, great music and such a pleasure to own. What a great woman Dolly is on stage and off. AAAA+++++ seller and delieverer of great merchandise.

Memories from my childhood
I listeded to them as a child almost every day. I have both of the albums on vinyl. As I grew up and the CD became the way to go and how to take your music and go, I wanted these albums mobile! When I saw them released together, on one CD and for $15, I flipped out. It's wonderful. I paid the extra to have it sent overnight! Listening to these songs together again bring back memories of sitting on the back porch annoying the neighbors with my continuous Dolly! 5 stars all the way!!!.

shes awesome isnt she
dolly parton is by far one of the best singers ive ever heard. since rock isnt giving us much lately, ive been going back at some of the country. these albums along with the rest of the 2 for 1 releases are worth every penny. she has a voice that makes every song great. im not a big country fan but she has had a pop status and is definitely one of the best singer ever.

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