John Denver —
Country Roads: Greatest Hits
album review

ALBUM REVIEW

During his career, John Denver put out a prodigious number of albums, including many studio albums, concert albums, and best-of collections. Since his death, many more collections have been added to the pile, leaving the would-be CD buyer with a glut of choices. This 2-CD collection—Country Roads: Greatest Hits—strikes a balance by including enough of John Denver's hits to make the music seem familiar to the average listener but still leaving plenty of room to delve deeper into Denver's non-hit (but no less worthy) material. The hit songs you'll recognize here include "Calypso," "Rocky Mountain High," "Annie's Song," "Sunshine on My Shoulders" and "Take Me Home, Country Roads," which were all among his best-selling singles. If all you really want are John Denver's hits—those and a few more—there are probably more appropriate packages for you. But the beauty of John Denver's music, as reflected in natural landscapes, wild creatures and caring people, ran very deep. Many, many of his lesser-known songs are excellent, and you get a chance here to become familiar with a number of them. You'll get the grandly illuminated vistas of a "Stonehaven Sunset" and "Rocky Mountain Suite"; you'll revel in the soaring harmonies of "Eagle and the Hawk," "American Child" and "Foxfire Suite"; and you'll warm to well done relationship songs like "Windsong," "For You" and "Hold on to Me." This compilation provides a truer reflection of the heart and soul of John Denver's music than a 12-song, hits-only CD could ever do.