Rose Garden : Country Hits 1970-1979

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This isn't a definitive Lynn Anderson best-of compilation since it doesn't have the hits she scored in the late 1960s before signing with Columbia. But it comes close to being a definitive overview of her most popular '70s work. All 21 of these songs were country chart entries and of course, one of these, "Rose Garden," was a huge pop hit too, reaching number three in early 1971. She never repeated that level of crossover success, but as a whole, this collection shows her to be one of the '70s country stars who was most adept at putting some brisk "pop" into her brand of pop-country. Though that might have kept her from attaining the same level of critical success as commercial popularity, she was one of the more enjoyable and less slick artists using this approach, and not just on "Rose Garden." She was willing to cover material by composers not primarily associated with country, like Joe South (writer of "Rose Garden" and the 1971 number one "How Can I Unlove You"), Jim Messina (co-writer of the 1972 hit "Listen to a Country Song"), Mike Nesmith (co-writer of "I've Never Loved Any One More"), and Karla Bonoff (author of the 1979 Top Ten hit "Isn't It Always Love"). She also put out "Top of the World" as a single before the Carpenters did, and her number two country version is here as well. The later tracks are less fresh and more adult contemporary-slanted than the ones from the early to mid-'70s that make up the bulk of this anthology, though it again showed her drawing on material beyond the usual Nashville mill on revivals of "Sea of Heartbreak" and the Paris Sisters' "I Love How You Love Me." A good CD, then, but it should be noted that six tracks are identified as "single versions," making it unclear as to whether the others are the exact same ones that appeared on the original 45s. ~ Richie Unterberger