At last - a serious anthology of Don's music on CD
Peter Durward Harris | Leicester England | 09/28/2004
(5 out of 5 stars)
"Bear Family have released a couple of boxed sets of Don's music for his committed fans, but for those that aren't so committed, choice has been somewhat limited. Now comes this double CD that does justice to his legacy. Perhaps it could have been a little more generous - there is room for a lot more than 32 tracks - but all the essentials are here.
Don was consistently successful on the country charts and also achieved pop crossover success, notably with Sea of heartbreak, Lonesome number one and Oh lonesome me. He wrote most of his own songs, some of which became more famous via cover versions, among them Sweet dreams (Patsy Cline), Too soon to know (Roy Orbison), Just one time (Connie Smith) and, most famous of all, I can't stop loving you (Ray Charles). Ronnie Milsap took his cover of Legend in my time to the top of the country charts in the seventies. Don's own versions of all the songs are in this anthology, Don didn't write Funny familiar forgotten feelings, but it was a country hit for him before Tom Jones covered it and had a UK pop hit with it.
Among the other highlights are Blue blue day, Give myself a party, Don't tell me your troubles, Far far away, his cover of Camptown races and his duets with the wonderful Dottie West that close the anthology.
This is the best compilation of Don's fifties and sixties music yet released (if you don't count the boxed sets) and is likely to remain so for a long time to come."
Don Gibson's Hits of the 60's
Ronald Van Scherpenzeel | Madrid, Spain | 12/11/2006
(4 out of 5 stars)
"This double CD called Anthology holds the Don Gibson Hits from 1958 till
1969 which is just the half of his carreer although the best part of it.
It also holds his own versions of songs that other singers scored big
hits with like Ray Charles, Ronnie Milsap and especially Roy Orbison who
dedicates a whole album to him and that every Roy and/or Don Gibson
fan should own. It's still available on a double CD called Roy Sings
Don Gibson/Hank Williams The Roy Orbison Way. These are incredible cover
versions as if Don had especially written them for Roy.
This double CD is of the best quality available and therefore the best
Don Gibson compilation one can obtain."