Best of Rocky Mountain Collection [Import] [Original recording remastered]

Product Description:
Digitally remastered 'best of', includes the hits, 'Rocky Mountain High', 'Annie's Song' and 'Leaving On A Jet Plane'. 2000 release. Standard jewel case.

Tracks:

Annie's Song
Leaving, On A Jet Plane
Take Me Home Country Roads
Sunshine On My Shoulder
Rocky Mountain High
Follow Me
Back Home Again
Rhymes & Reasons
Fly Away
Starwood In Aspen
Poems, Prayers And Promises
This Old Guitar
Goodbye Again
Calypso
I'm Sorry
Farewell Andromeda (Welcome To My Morning)
Sweet Surrender
Love Again
Thank God I'm A Country Boy
Wild Montana Skies

Album Description

Digitally remastered 'best of', includes the hits, 'Rocky Mountain High', 'Annie's Song' and 'Leaving On A Jet Plane'. 2000 release. Standard jewel case.

Customer Reviews:

Feel the Sunshine.......2006-12-23

The babyboomers had the opportunity to truly enjoy John Denver in his prime. I'm a Gen-Xer, so my early memories of John Denver were sunny summer days with the window down, driving in the country with this gentle voice piping through the eight-track of my parents' stationwagon.

Recently I unintentionally caught a documentary on John Denver, and the feelings and memories came flooding back, along with a deep sadness for the man's passing. John Denver was a beautiful soul, and his deep love of the American wilderness and of the human spirit is reflected so brilliantly in his music. What an amazing storytelling lyricist. I'm so happy to have found the Best of Rocky Mountain collection, because it's the perfect re-introduction to the man and his more popular tunes distilled on one CD.

If you're a John Denver enthusiast already, then doubtless you have other favorites of his music, but if, like me, you're re-discovering the man and his music, you'd be well served to make the Best of Rocky Mountain Collection one of your premiere purchases. It's well worth buying. Every track on the album's a wonderful offering. You'll play this one often, and even after you put it away for a while, like a "long, lost friend" it will invariably find its way "back home" to your CD player again and again.

Most comprehensive single-disc collection available.......2004-08-16

Of the dozens of John Denver collections on the market, only a few seem the result of much thought and effort:

"The Country Roads Collection" (4CD box set)
"The Legendary John Denver" (3CD import)
"The Rocky Mountain Collection" (2CDs)
"Portrait" (2CDs)
"Seine grossen Erfolge" (2CD import)
"The Best of the Rocky Mountain Collection" (1CD import)
"John Denver's Greatest Hits" (1CD)
"John Denver's Greatest Hits Vol. 2" (1CD)
"John Denver's Greatest Hits Vol. 3" (1CD)

The three "Greatest Hits" volumes contain the key songs of his career, in my opinion. Missing are fan favorites here and there, which is always the case with compilations. Also missing (for the most part) are live versions, which is actually a benefit since those interested in this performer are encouraged to check out the terrific live albums available:
"An Evening with John Denver" 1CD and 2CD
"Live at the Sydney Opera House" 1CD
"Sing Australia" 1CD
"The Harbor Lights Concert" 2CD
"The Wildlife Concert" 2CD
"The Best of John Denver Live" (taken from "The Wildlife Concert") 1CD

While "Seine grossen Erfolge" has the fewest songs of the 2CD compilations, it does have the value of presenting "John Denver's Greatest Hits" on disc 1 and "John Denver's Greatest Hits Vol. 2" on disc 2. However, it is a hard-to-find German import.

"Portrait" is an odd compilation, including some "greatest hits" along with fan favorites like "The Wings That Fly Us Home" and songs that would seem to be Denver's personal favorites. With 34 songs and 4 live versions, "Portrait" lives up to its name, but I find that I rarely play it, perhaps because it paints a less memorable picture of this artist for me than the other compilations do, which rely more on his 70s material.

"The Rocky Mountain Collection" is to my mind the representative compilation on the market, offering 39 songs and (typically) exceptional liner notes by Colin Escott. It includes most of the songs from the three "greatest hits" volumes in a chronologically organized package.

"The Best of the Rocky Mountain Collection" is a single disc distillate of "The Rocky Mountain Collection." Its 20 songs include most of "John Denver's Greatest Hits" (minus 'For Baby [For Bobbie]' and 'The Eagle and the Hawk'), eight songs from "John Denver's Greatest Hits Vol. 2," and two songs from "John Denver's Greatest Hits Vol. 3." It also includes 'Sweet Surrender.'

In my opinion, "The Best of the Rocky Mountain Collection" is the most comprehensive single-disc compilation available. While I miss the missing tracks from the first greatest hits collection (and would gladly trade 'Thank God I'm a Country Boy' for any number of tracks), I think it's great to have 'Calypso,' 'This Old Guitar,' 'Sweet Surrender' and 'Wild Montana Skies' along with 'Rocky Mountain High,' 'Poems, Prayers and Promises,' 'Rhymes & Reasons,' and the other tracks from "John Denver's Greatest Hits."

My reservations about it are that, at about 75 minutes, it could have included one more song (say, 'The Eagle and the Hawk') and there are no liner notes.

Still, some care went into the packaging, with nice pictures, decent song credits, and original project credits (audio restoration, digital transfers, etc.) from the 2CD set. The disc was remastered "by Andy Pearce at Masterpiece Studios, London 2000." As Pearce has done quite a few remastering projects, it should come as no surprise that the sound on this one is excellent.

Beware the words "digitally remastered".......2001-04-06

If you are a John Denver fan this disk will make you cry and not for the reasons you might expect. I turned it off after 5 tracks because I couldn't bare to listen to it any more. I had the feeling that someone had rummaged through some old discarded session tapes and had played them back through a pillow. The arrangements were definitely not what I was expecting and the quality was awful. I gave this recoding 1 star but only because they wouldn't let me out of the screen without filling in that field!

Music Album:

Music Album