Greatest Hits (Kenny Rogers)
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| Kenny Rogers Greatest Hits | ||
| Compilation album by Kenny Rogers | ||
| Released | 1980 | |
| Label | Liberty records | |
Greatest Hits (sometimes referred to as Kenny Rogers Greatest Hits) is a 1980 compilation album issued by Liberty records of hit singles by the country music superstar Kenny Rogers.
[edit] History
The album reached Number One on both the Pop and Country charts in the United States of America and featured three singles that were not included on any of Rogers' studio albums - they being "Lady" (written and produced specifically for Rogers by Lionel Richie, which was a #1 hit single in the same year), "Love The World Away" (a top 5 country and top 20 pop hit that was featured on the soundtrack of the box-office smash Urban Cowboy) and "The Long Arm Of The law" (a lesser known, but still relatively popular song among Rogers loyal fan base).
The album features a further nine hit singles from Rogers' career, hence missing out on a lot of others (notable omissions including "Daytime Friends", "Sweet Music Man" and "Love Or Something Like It"), but stopping not the album being a huge success and confirming Rogers' status as one of the world's biggest stars, going on to sell more than 22 million copies around the globe, a very very large amount. In country music it remains the best selling complitaion release of all-time, beating out Garth Brooks' 1994 limited-time-availability release The Hits.
This collection was the first album by Rogers to be issued on the Liberty Records label, as all his previous albums had been under the United Artists Records name. This album was issued just after the two labels were merged into one.
In the United Kingdom the album was issued with the same artwork under the title Lady but differed very slightly in track listing, omitting "Ruby Don't Take Your Love To Town" and "Reuben James" in favor of "Goodbye Marie" and "Sail Away" (this was probably done to make it less similar to the already issued set The Kenny Rogers Singles Album, which was still selling well in the UK).
This is (not?) only one of Rogers' albums to be called Greatest Hits. In 1971, while with The First Edition he issued an album under that title. Since 1980 many other collections by Rogers have album been called Greatest Hits, such as a 1985 Readers Digest box set and the 1988 collection of his RCA material. However, this 1980 collection on Liberty was the first solo offering by Rogers to be issued under the title.
In 1983, when Rogers changed labels to RCA Records, Liberty quickly issued 20 Greatest Hits, a more complete overall look at Rogers hit list. However, both albums remained in catalog side by side for over two decades. Greatest Hits was eventually deleted in 2004 after Rogers' 42 Ultimate Hits was released.
[edit] Track listing
- The Gambler
- Lady
- Don't Fall yn Love with a Dreamer (Vocal duet with Kim Carnes)
- Ruby, Don't Take Your Love to Town
- She Believes in me
- Coward of the County
- Lucille
- You Decorated My Life
- Reuben James
- Love the World Away
- Everytime Two Fools Collide (Vocal duet with Dottie West)
- Long Arm of the Law
