Off The Tracks

Off The Tracks
  • Blog
    • Interviews
    • Miscellany
    • Special Guests
    • Reviews
  • Podcasts
  • The Vinyl Countdown
  • Back Catalogue
  • About
    • About
    • About the banner image
    • On Song
    • Advertise
November 15, 2011 by Simon Sweetman

The Vinyl Countdown # 1759

Kenny Rogers, The Best Of Kenny Rogers (1979)

It’s also known as The Singles Collection – but to me this is The Best Of Kenny Rogers. And it’s special not just for that brilliant kit Ken is decked out in on the cover – but because my dad had this on cassette tape and round and round it would go on car trips. Partly it would drive us mad – and the syrupy ballads were always too much. But partly it was brilliant; Ruby Don’t Take Your Love To Town is harrowing – but awesome. The Gambler, obviously it’s played-out now, completely, but in the 1980s, growing up, this thing was awesome. I’m really not sure why. It just was. So many of these songs straddle awful/brilliant: Daytime Friends, Lucille, Love Lifted Me. I don’t know – if I hadn’t grown up with them I’d probably just hate them. I do love She Believes In Me though – a soppy gem. And of course the early First Edition stuff is great (Just Dropped In To See What Condition My Condition Was In). I went to a Kenny Rogers concert once – and it played out just like this compilation did/does: alternately kinda superb and kinda awful/embarrassing. Like so many things in life, as long as you’re sure you’re in on the joke it’s okay to laugh, otherwise you just look/sound crazy.

Sample Track: Reuben James

The Vinyl Countdown is a document of every LP I listen to, brand new discoveries and old-old favourites; extremely pre-loved, previously abandoned or with the shrink-wrap having just been removed it’s all here at The Vinyl Countdown

Posted in The Vinyl Countdown and tagged with Daytime Friends, Don't Take Your Love To Town, Just Dropped In To See What Condition My Condition Was In, Kenny Rogers, Love Lifted Me, Lucille, Reuben James, Ruby, She Believes In Me, The Best Of Kenny Rogers, The First Edition, The Gambler, The Singles Collection, Vinyl. RSS 2.0 feed.
« The Vinyl Countdown # 1760
The Vinyl Countdown # 1758 »

0 Responses to The Vinyl Countdown # 1759

  1. Megan says:
    November 15, 2011 at 8:19 pm

    Kenny was our car trip companion too. Dad only listened to classical music at home, but on trips to Wellington or Taupo we were exposed to the marvellous world of country music. I always thought that Lucille went “You picked a fine time to leave me Lucille/ four hundred children and a goat in the field” but apparently that’s not quite right.

  2. Johnny Jazz says:
    January 10, 2012 at 8:36 pm

    Yep, same experience for me basically. I first heard Kenny & this album in the back of a car with my brother and my Dad and his work colleague in the front driving to Hawkes Nest on the NSW mid north coast for a deep sea fishing weekend. The weekend was verbs trance as that wasn’t an activity my Dad routinely did. The first and last time I’m pretty sure. I caught a good sized tuna and a small shark which we let go. The real memory however is of listening to this cassette and being woken up to the deliciously daggy but seriously catchy music of Kenny. It basically got played the while weekend on demand from My brother Brian and I. And the sneaky realization of what Kenny was singing about on ‘Daytime Friends’ after the tenth listen! How good! This is one of the CDs I have also introduced my kids to in similar fashion (long drives) as part of their musical education. I never bothered to listen to another Kenny Rogers except for the duet with Dolly Parton which I secretly adore. I recently bought a Kenny Rogers collection which had most of this music on it, some new numbers but amazingly omitted to include Reuben James which is unforgivable.

Popular

  • Janna Lapidus Leblanc: Four Years In Pictures
  • The Best Guitarist in The World: # 8 – Mark Knopfler
  • The Sad Story of Bob Welch: Fleetwood Mac’s Most Undervalued Member
  • Sweetman Podcast # 247: Talia Marshall
  • Poem: Dear Ngā Mihi,
  • Revisiting Live at Knebworth (1990)
  • The Best Guitarist in The World: # 11 – Lindsey Buckingham
  • Willie Nelson: That’s Life
  • R.I.P. Lawrence Ferlinghetti
  • James Blunt: How To Be A Complete and Utter Blunt – Diary of a Reluctant Social Media Sensation

Archives

Tags

Album Review Auckland Book Book Review Chat Compilation DJ DVD DVD Review EP Film Film Review Gig Gig Review Guest Blog Guitar Interview Jazz Jon Mcleary Live Live Gig LP Movie Music NZ Podcast Poem Record Records Simon Sweetman Soundtrack Spines Spotify Stub Stubs Sweetman Podcast The Ghost of Electricity The Spines The Vinyl Countdown Vinyl Wellington Wgtn Writing You can support Off The Tracks via PressPatron [OST]

Categories

  • Back Catalogue
  • Blog
  • Interviews
  • Miscellany
  • Mixtapes
  • Playlists
  • Podcasts
  • Reviews
  • Scene Of The Day
  • Special Guests
  • The Vinyl Countdown

Off The Tracks is the home of Sweetman Podcast, a weekly interview/chat-based pod. It's also home to my reviews across film, TV, music and books and some creative writing as well.

Off The Tracks aims to provide quality reviews and essays, regular blog updates about the shows, albums, books and movies you should be experiencing.

It's a passion project. Your support will help to keep Off The Tracks online.

All content © 2021 by Off The Tracks. WordPress Themes by Graph Paper Press