Audio CD review:
Conway Twitty - The Ultimate Collection

Conway Twitty - The Ultimate Collection

Band: Conway Twitty Title: The Ultimate Collection Rating: Release Date: 1999-08-10 Media: Audio CD Tracks: 1: It's Only Make Believe - Conway Twitty, Nance, Jack 2: Lonely Blue Boy - Conway Twitty, Weisman, Benjamin 3: Hello Darlin' - Conway Twitty, Twitty, Conway 4: Next in Line - Conway Twitty, Kemp, Wayne 5: After the Fire Is Gone - Conway Twitty, White, L.E. 6: You've Never Been This Far Before - Conway Twitty, Twitty, Conway 7: Louisiana Woman, Mississippi Man - Conway Twitty, Bluefield, Becki 8: Linda on My Mind - Conway Twitty, Twitty, Conway 9: Play Guitar Play - Conway Twitty, Twitty, Conway 10: I'd Love to Lay You Down - Conway Twitty, MacRae, Johnny 11: Tight Fittin' Jeans - Conway Twitty, Huffman, Mike 12: Slow Hand - Conway Twitty, Bettis, John 13: I Don't Know a Thing About Love (The Moon Song) - Conway Twitty, Howard, Harlan 14: Desperado Love - Conway Twitty, Garvin, Michael 15: Julia - Conway Twitty, Jarvis, John Barlow 16: That's My Job - Conway Twitty, Burr, Gary 17: Crazy in Love - Conway Twitty, Stevens, Even 18: Rainy Night in Georgia - Conway Twitty, White, Tony Joe

There Are Now Better Compilations Available Then, in August 2004, Mca Nashville released 25 Number Ones with 11 of the 18 tracks here, plus 14 more # 1 hits [he had 40 # 1's among his 97 Country hits plus another 25 that made the Country Top 5), followed in March 2006 by the 2-CD set Gold, which has 15 of the tracks in this volume. When this first came out from Hip-O Records in August 1999, the best Conway Twitty compendium on the market was the 3-CD box set The Conway Twitty Collection from Mca Nashville, which contained 14 of the 18 tracks presented here. Each of those is still available. Mind you, this does have excellent sound as well as 12 pages of background notes written by Colin Escott, along with a discography of the contents and several more nice vintage photos, although forget about reading the last two paragraphs completely. It seems that, whoever finalized the insert decided to throw in another photo of Conway on page 12 in such a way that a lot of the black ink text is completely lost in the black of his hair. Someone clearly goofed when proofing this before release. Conway, before he embarked upon his career leading to induction into the Country Music Hall Of Fame in 1999 (six YEARS after his untimely death at age 59 on June 5, 1993) was, of course, among the original Rock & Rollers holding sway in the mid-1950s, even starting his career with Sun Records where Elvis, Roy Orbison, Carl Perkins, Johnny Cash, and Jerry Lee Lewis also got their careers kick-started. But whereas each of the foregoing is a member of the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame, that body continues to ignore Conway. He never had a hit while with Sun, but Mercury released an unissued side he cut there as Give Me Some Love under the new title I Need Your Love and saw it dent the Billboard Pop Top 100 at # 93 in May 1957 b/w Born To Sing The Blues. A bit over a year later, after switching to MGM, he had the smash # 1 Top 100/# 12 R&B It's Only Make Believe b/w I'll Try. And from there until deliberately and emphatically switching to Country in 1965, he racked up another 12 Top/Hot 100 hits, including seven more in the Top 40 and two more R&B cross-overs (six of his Country hits from 1970 to 1975 also crossed over to the Hot 100 and one to the Adult Contemporary charts). And enough of them in those early days were bona fide rockers (in the context of their time) to put him in the same class at least as Gene Vincent and Eddy Cochran, both of whom have been inducted into the R&R Hall Of Fame. In my opinion he should be honoured by the R&R Hall Of Fame as soon as possible, thereby becoming just the fifth to be inducted into both, the others being Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, The Everly Brothers, and Brenda Lee (Jerry Lee Lewis, believe it or not, has yet to be named by the Country Music Hall Of Fame - go figure). Not a bad little volume in this case, but shop around as there are several that give you more, and for not all that much more money. . conway was one of the greatest pop singers of all time I once saw this incredible concert at Ballys in Las Vegas with Conway, Merle Haggard, and George Jones. Conway was a Nashville recording artist but I always considered him an outstanding pop singer with some country influence. And Conway blew these two greats off the stage he was an incredible entertainer need I say more? And the women they always melted when Conway got down and into it. With your death in 1993 I cried like a baby and am not ashamed to admit it. You are dearly missed rest in peace. Ultimate Collection? You Betcha! The best thing about the album is the inclusion of "That's My Job", which is my favorite song - that's what my father would always say when you thanked him for something he did for you - so it may only be an emotional favorite, so sue me. Ultimate Collection is, IMHO, the best small compilation of the hits Conway Twitty released over his career. I do have to voice a gripe about the liner notes, though. The statement: "By the end of his life, it didn't really matter how good Conway Twity's records were. His day had passed, although his run had been among the longest. " Liner notes are supposed to be a history of the artist, not a chance to kick someone who isn't around to defend themselves. 18 hits in the next to last paragraph he states: "by the end of Conway's life it really didn't matter how good Conway Twitty's records were, his day had passed. i do have a bit of criticism for the liner notes writer, Colin Escott. . . ". my problem with that is that the writer makes the assumption that Conway recorded for nobody but radio stations and that his VERY LOYAL fans had no part of his career. . . Escott is basically saying that without radio airplay, Conway had no need to record anymore as if that's ALL Conway thought about. Mr. Escott must think that when radio airplay stops, an artist isn't allowed to continue making great records for their fans anymore!?! i don't know. . . i never have liked that comment because it made fans like me and others feel like we're not important in the longevity of an artist, and we are. . . look at how long George Jones or Willie Nelson have been able to make the singles and albums charts YEARS after their airplay stopped! in another stand-out error, Colin says that Conway left MCA in 1980. In truth, Conway left MCA in late 1981 after "Red Neckin' Love Makin' Night" had been issued as a single (it would hit #1 in early 1982 a week before Conway's debut for Elektra hit the charts). this gave Conway 16 years at MCA originally, 1965-1981, and 4 years with the Elektra/Warner Brothers label, 1982-1986, then in 1987 he re-joined MCA, where he remained until his death in 1993. But getting to this great album. 11 tracks are on side one and just 7 on side two. i applaud Hip-O Records for seeking out the original recordings {including the two opening pop hits from 1958 and 1959}. i also love the inclusion of three Warner Brothers hits {"Slow Hand"; "I Don't Know a Thing About Love"; and "Desperado Love"}. not as many as i'd like to see. . . but it's a start. Music historians depend too much on Billboard chart statistics for my taste. "Julia" was #2 in Billboard but it was #1 in Radio and Records. "Crazy in Love" was #2 in Billboard but it hit #1 in Cashbox. The 40 #1 country hits on Billboard and his #1 Billboard pop hit add up to 41. . . but he had 14 additional #1 hits on other country singles charts. . . giving him his total of 55. . . and "Crazy In Love" was his 55th and final #1 in 1990. the last song on this collection is his duet with Sam Moore called "Rainy Night in Georgia" that became a video hit on the country video channels in 1993. all in all, a good display of music despite the borderline offensive comments by Colin Escott with reference to his broad statement that Conway only recorded for radio airplay and nothing else. "Conway left his mark of high standards in the music world" Conway probably sang some of the best remembered country songs ever recorded. Hip-O Records gives a new meaning to the word "Ultimate", with this wonderful collection of legendary Conway Twitty. A good example is "A RAINY NIGHT IN GEORGIA" with Sam Moore is the greatest. Twitty's duets with Loretta Lynn - "AFTER THE FIRE IS GONE" and "LOUISIANA WOMAN, MISSISSIPPI MAN" is featured on this album and is nothing less than classic. Conway's growling voice was unmistakable and thoroughly his trademark. A stand out - "IT'S ONLY MAKE BELIEVE, if you can find a better collection of Conway Twitty's best of or greatest hits on any other CD, it would be a miracle. Andy McKaie with Hip-O Records has come up with a complete and enjoyable journey through the musical career of the most beloved country ballad singer of our time! Total Time: 56:22 on 18 Tracks/ Hip-O Records - HIPD 40049 (1999). You can see a complete list of all Conway Twitty discography, or go back to the Conway Twitty tabs