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Dwight. He's almost like Madonna or Reba
or Cher now. Just the intoning of his first name causes us worshippers
of this multi-talented fellow to get rushes thinking of his thrilling,
affecting, solidly constructed, powerhouse music.
Even if the three new tracks on this album
sucked out loud, which they definitely DON'T, the fact that 11
of Dwight's greatest hits of the 90's fill out this disc would
get it five stars ANY day. Witness: The barnburning of "Turn
It On, Turn Me Up, Turn Me Loose"; the wailing revenge of
"You're the One"; the neo-traditional glory of "It
Only Hurts Me When I Cry"; the plaintive angst of "The
Heart That you Own"; the killer cover of a song HOLY to
this reviewer, Elvis' 1969 career rejuvenator "Suspicious
Minds" (that distorted intro is like the warning of the
coming of a glorious storm); the thrilling moan of "1000
miles >From Nowhere"; the hold-on-to-your-strength-not-to-go-back-to-crappy-ex-lover's
thrill of " Ain't That Lonely Yet"; "Fast As You"
may be the flat out SEXIEST song every sung by a man in the past
15 years in Country Music; more neo-traditional beauty in "Pocket
Of A Clown" and "Sorry You Asked" (glorious echoes
of Dwight's mentor and hero Buck Owens abound, not to mention
those nifty Johnny Cash-Ring Of Fire Trumpets in "Sorry");
and finally the Orbsion-like haunting of the stunning "Nothing."
These aren't just 11 of Dwight's greatest hits of the 90's, those
are 11 of the greatest SONGS of the 90s, PERIOD!
The three new tracks sure as hell don't
disappoint either. "Thinking About Leaving," CO-penned
by Dwight (who wrote 8 of the other hit tracks too) and fellow
famed Singer-Songwriter Rodney Crowell is not really sad, but
just such an INCREDIBLE song smack dab in the middle of this
already earth-shattering collection that this reviewer nearly
choked up. The cover of "Crazy Little Thing Called Love"
made famous by Queen is already a hit on the radio, and DY's
cover of "I'll Go Back To Her," a '70s Waylon Jennings
hit, also written by Ol' WJ, is a gem of a more traditional sound
mixed with Dwight's modern power.
Maybe in my life I have heard, in my opinion,
perhaps 50 perfect albums. It's 51 now. GO buy this. NOW. |
