Dolly Parton - The Collection (2015) [Official Digital Download 24-bit/96kHz]

This Collection features some of her biggest hits, including "Jolene", "I Will Always Love You", "Here You Come Again" and many more! Includes the albums: "Hello, I'm Dolly" (1967), "My Blue Ridge Mountain Boy" (1969), "Jolene" (1974), "Love Is Like A Butterfly" (1974), "The Bargain Store" (1975), "All I Can Do" (1976), "New Harvest … First Gathering" (1977), "Here You Come Again" (1977), "Heartbreaker" (1978), "9 To 5 And Odd Jobs" (1980).

The charismatic Dolly Parton came on strong with these early session for Monument. At least half the songs are among her classics, while the rest of the material is hardly weak. The pedal steel playing is fantastic, and it would be worth the research to find out who the session men were, as they have gone uncredited on the original release, as well as subsequent repackagings. (In one two-fer release combining this album with As Long as I Love, the label squandered the inner gatefold on self-advertising rather than provide any information about these wonderful sessions.) The personality that Parton brought to her material is here in full force. "Dumb Blonde" and "Something Fishy" are the wisecracking, smart-cookie side of Parton, while "The Company You Keep"and "I've Lived My Life" show how adept she is at cramming country songs full of moralizing while providing the listener with plenty of enjoyment.

Tracklist:

01 - Dumb Blonde
02 - Your Ole Handy Man
03 - I Don't Want to Throw Rice
04 - Put It off Until Tomorrow
05 - I Wasted My Tears
06 - Something Fishy
07 - Fuel to the Flame
08 - The Giving and the Taking
09 - I'm In No Condition
10 - The Company You Keep
11 - I Lived My Life
12 - The Little Things

My Blue Ridge Mountain Boy is the fourth solo studio album by Dolly Parton. It was released in September 1969 on RCA Victor. The album contains some of Parton's most morose compositions. The title song tells the story of a small town girl whose aspirations take her to New Orleans, where she winds up a prostitute, dreaming of the boy she'd left behind. "Gypsy, Joe and Me" details the story of a woman, her love and their small dog, who all eventually perish. And "Evening Shade" tells the story of an orphanage run by an evil headmistress, "Mrs. Bailey". The orphans eventually burn the home down, with "Mrs. Bailey" sleeping inside. Another Parton song, "Daddy," tells the story of a daughter pleading with her father to reconsider leaving her mother for a woman much younger. Also included are Parton's covers of the Mac Davis-penned Elvis Presley hit "In the Ghetto" and Joe South's "Games People Play". She also covered current country hits by Porter Wagoner ("Big Wind") and Jan Howard ("We Had All the Good Things Going").

Tracklist:

01 - In the Ghetto
02 - Games People Play
03 - 'Til Death Do Us Part
04 - Big Wind
05 - Evening Shade (Remastered)
06 - I'm Fed Up with You
07 - My Blue Ridge Mountain Boy
08 - Daddy
09 - We Had All the Good Things Going
10 - The Monkey's Tale
11 - Gypsy, Joe and Me
12 - Home for Pete's Sake

Jolene is the most absorbing musically and the most problematic lyrically. A sparkling production creates a rich backdrop for both "Jolene" and "When Someone Wants to Leave" (both Parton originals), mixing acoustic guitar, country instruments (steel guitar, dobro), and light percussion. This tasteful mix, nicely spread across the stereo spectrum with Parton front and center, is a joy to listen to. Lyrically, however, these songs are a long way from Loretta Lynn's "You Ain't Woman Enough to Take My Man." Parton's female protagonists are downright pitiful, adrift in a world where a more attractive woman might take their man, where a woman cannot let go of a man who no longer loves her, and where a man is the "highlight" of her life ("Highlight of My Life.") Jolene, originally released in 1974, feels like a shot across the bow of the feminist movement, a reaffirmation that many women still liked the men to wear the pants (women, presumably, who listened to old-fashioned country music). This seems somewhat peculiar now, in that no one – looking at her long, distinguished career and commanding stage presence – would accuse Parton of being a weak-kneed songbird. Still, the music and Parton's vocal prowess are in top form on Jolene, and "I Will Always Love You" is one of her best performances (which is saying a lot). Like it or loath it, Jolene offers a fascinating snapshot of an era in transition, and captures Parton at the top of her game.

Tracklist:

01 - Jolene
02 - When Someone Wants to Leave
03 - River of Happiness
04 - Early Morning Breeze
05 - Highlight of My Life
06 - I Will Always Love You
07 - Randy
08 - Living On Memories of You
09 - Lonely Comin' Down
10 - It Must Be You

Love Is Like a Butterfly is the 14th solo studio album by Dolly Parton, released in September 1974. The title track was the third consecutive single to reach #1 on the U.S. country charts for Parton. For the few years before her pop chart success, "Butterfly" was considered Parton's signature song and was used as the theme song for her 1976 syndicated music series Dolly!. The album peaked at # 7 on the country albums charts.

Tracklist:

01 - Love Is Like a Butterfly
02 - If I Cross Your Mind
03 - My Eyes Can Only See You
04 - Take Me Back
05 - Blackie, Kentucky
06 - Gettin' Happy
07 - You're the One That Taught Me How to Swing
08 - Highway Headin' South
09 - Once Upon a Memory
10 - Sacred Memories

The Bargain Store is Dolly Parton's 15th solo studio album, released in 1975. In the Parton-penned title track, one of her best-known compositions, she used worn, second-hand merchandise in a discount store as a metaphor for a woman damaged by an ill-fated relationship. The song was dropped from a number of country stations' playlists when programmers mistook the line "you can easily afford the price" as a thinly veiled reference to prostitution. Despite the decrease in airplay, the song nonetheless topped the U.S. country singles charts in April 1975. The album was largely made up of Parton's own compositions but also contained Merle Haggard's "You'll Always Be Special to Me".

Tracklist:

01 - The Bargain Store
02 - Kentucky Gambler
03 - When I'm Gone
04 - The Only Hand You'll Need to Hold
05 - On My Mind Again
06 - I Want to Be What You Need
07 - Love to Remember
08 - You'll Always Be Special to Me
09 - He Would Know
10 - I'll Never Forget

Released in 1976, All I Can Do was Dolly Parton's last album produced by longtime mentor and frequent duet partner Porter Wagoner, though this time out Parton co-produced, and one can sense Dolly was straining slightly at the bit on these sessions. While the clear mountain purity of Parton's vocals was as beautiful as ever, the backing musicians generated the rhythmic insistence of a rock & roll band on cuts like "Shattered Image" and "The Fire That Keeps You Warm," and this was one of Dolly's first clear gestures toward a crossover career. However, despite the country-rock accents on All I Can Do, Parton's songwriting had changed little, and "When the Sun Goes Down Tonight," "I'm a Drifter," and "All I Can Do" are all tales of life in the South that resonate with emotional honesty and a nostalgia whose sweetness finds room for bitter truths. Similarly, "Preacher Tom" is a song of faith that's as country as cornbread, and just as satisfying. Parton's covers of Emmylou Harris' "Boulder to Birmingham" and Merle Haggard's "Life's Like Poetry" are inspired, and the production is simple and straightforward, and suits Parton's vocals perfectly. A few years on, Parton's career and public persona would go through a lot of changes, but All I Can Do serves as a reminder that her commitment to country music was always real, and that she was a first-class talent before she became a multimedia star.

Tracklist:

01 - All I Can Do
02 - The Fire That Keeps You Warm
03 - When the Sun Goes Down Tomorrow
04 - I'm a Drifter
05 - Falling Out of Love with Me
06 - Shattered Image
07 - Boulder to Birmingham
08 - Preacher Tom
09 - Life's Like Poetry
10 - Hey, Lucky Lady

In 1977, Dolly Parton broke ties with her mentor, Porter Wagoner, moved to Los Angeles, and began mapping out the career that would take her out of the country market and transform her into a star of practically all media. New Harvest…First Gathering was Parton's first album working with her new management, and she produced it herself (with Gregg Perry assisting on two tracks), and though it isn't as calculated a piece of radio-ready product as her next set (Here You Come Again) would be, the record makes clear that Parton was interested in moving on to a larger stage. The opening track, "Light of a Clear Blue Morning," is a sophisticated piece of adult contemporary songcraft that suggests practically zero Nashville influence, and her covers of two soul chestnuts, "My Girl" (reworked into the gender-free "My Love") and "(Your Love Keeps Lifting Me) Higher and Higher," dispel any doubts that Parton's voice would work outside of strict country boundaries. However, Dolly doesn't turn her back on her country audience with this set; "Applejack" is a cheerfully corny bit of backwoods nostalgia, "Holdin' on to You" and "You Are" are lovely and delicate love songs, and "There" is a spiritual number that's as sincere and passionate as it is inventive. In retrospect, New Harvest…First Gathering sounds like a dry run for Dolly's later crossover career, but it's also full of fine songs and produced with intelligence and restraint, and it has stood the test of time far better than much of her work of the 1980s.

Tracklist:

01 - Light of a Clear Blue Morning
02 - Applejack
03 - My Girl (My Love)
04 - Holdin' On to You
05 - You Are
06 - How Does It Feel
07 - Where Beauty Lives In Memory
08 - Higher and Higher
09 - Getting In My Way
10 - There

It might be the short length of Dolly Parton's Here You Come Again that inevitably makes it feel like it just didn't quite all come together, yet there are plenty of high points, such as the catchy title tune, the grooving "It's All Wrong, But It's All Right," "Two Doors Down," and the typically Parton-esque charm of "Cowgirl and the Dandy." Some problems originate with the studio backup, which just isn't country enough. Sure, there's some pedal steel here and there, but an effort is obviously being made to steer her away from the hardcore country sound to whatever might have been perceived as being popular in the late '70s. This is still a few years before disco was to temporarily monopolize her aesthetic. The musicians here represent a smooth Los Angeles sound, with pickers such as David Lindley aboard. There are even synthesizer contributions from Ian Underwood, but from what he does one would hardly know that he had been a member of the avant-garde rock outfit the Mothers of Invention.

Tracklist:

01 - Here You Come Again
02 - Baby Come Out Tonight
03 - It's All Wrong, but It's All Right
04 - Me and Little Andy
05 - Lovin' You
06 - Cowgirl & The Dandy
07 - Two Doors Down
08 - God's Coloring Book
09 - As Soon as I Touched Him
10 - Sweet Music Man

Dolly Parton found increasing success in the late '70s, and Heartbreaker showcases her increasing confidence beautifully. In 1978 Parton was the winner of the Country Music Association's Entertainer of the Year award, probably due in part to Heartbreaker's rise to number one on the country charts and its two number one singles ("I Really Got the Feeling" and the title track). While the clean country-pop is a step away from her much rootsier previous albums, it is the natural progression toward her 9 to 5 and Odd Jobs pop crossover success in the years to come. Unfortunately with this BMG Special Products release, the liner notes are nonexistent (Parton's duet partner, Richard Dennison, on "We're Through Forever ('Til Tomorrow)" goes completely uncredited) and the disco remixes of "Baby I'm Burning" and "I Wanna Fall in Love" (which were two of the year's biggest club hits) would've been terrific bonus cuts, but they are nowhere to be found. Still, it's great to have Heartbreaker back in print, no matter the shortcomings of the packaging.

Tracklist:

01 - I Really Got the Feeling
02 - It's Too Late to Love Me Now
03 - We're Through Forever ('Til Tomorrow)
04 - Sure Thing
05 - With You Gone
06 - Baby I'm Burnin'
07 - Nickels and Dimes
08 - The Man
09 - Heartbreaker
10 - I Wanna Fall In Love

Dolly Parton has never been an albums artist, and RCA has always been adept at shoving poorly organized products onto the market (look how they've treated Elvis Presley). Hence, though she is an important country figure, most of Parton's albums are hard to recommend. This one contains the title hit, plus a few other Parton originals and a version of Woody Guthrie's "Deportee" among its eight tracks. But that's enough to put it a notch above most of Parton's RCA catalog.

Tracklist:

01 - 9 to 5
02 - Hush-A-Bye Hard Times
03 - The House of the Rising Sun
04 - Deportee (Plane Wreck at Los Gatos)
05 - Sing for the Common Man
06 - Working Girl
07 - Detroit City
08 - But You Know I Love You
09 - Dark as a Dungeon
10 - Poor Folks Town


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