| The Very Best of John Michael Montgomery - John Michael Montgomery | |
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Reviewed by Matt Bjorke
From the moment his debut single, "Life's A Dance," hit the charts, John Michael Montgomery was a star. Following in the steps of Garth Brooks, John Michael was one of the many "hat acts" to carve out a strong career in the 1990s. In one decade, John Michael has had seven singles hit the top of Billboard's country charts, had two of them covered by the pop group All-4-One ("I Swear," and "I Can Love You Like That") and rack up 11 other Top 5 hits on the Billboard charts.
The Very Best of John Michael Montgomery gathers all those seventeen hits along with "Til Nothing Comes Between Us" and two new tracks: "Cool" and "One Day Less." While John Michael released a "Greatest Hits" package in 1997, it doesn't feature his later hits which, along with the two new songs, is reason enough to get this package of songs. Along with all of his hits, Warner Brothers Records' archivist division Rhino has packaged a nice history of the songs and the albums they came from along with giving Peak chart positions for all of the singles and albums (as well as the month of their releases).
About the same time I became a country fan, John Michael was at his "creative peak" with his 1994 Kickin' It Up album and his self-titled 1995 release. Both albums had five singles which are on this collection (with the exception of the Top 5 hit "Cowboy Love"). The previously mentioned "I Swear" and "I Can Love You Like That" are on these CDs as are the fun No. 1 hits "Sold (The Grundy County Auction Incident)" and "Be My Baby Tonight."
Victoria Shaw was the writer behind some of the early 1990's biggest hits and John Michael's second hit "I Love The Way You Love Me" is one of them. It's a soft and tender ballad that resonates as well a decade later as it did back then.
I was a fan who didn't see the need to buy his 1997 "Hits" CD just for one single so the fact that it's included here is a bonus for me. "Angel In My Eyes" wasn't John Michael's biggest hit ever but it's certainly one of my favorites, it features him stretching his voice out a little bit with some falsetto styled vocals.
One of my absolute favorite singles released by John Michael is the Arlos Smith/Sara Light penned ballad "Home To You." (Arlos also wrote the great "Mayberry" from Rascal Flatts' Melt CD). It was one of 3 singles by John Michael to reach runner-up status on the charts.
While many think "I Swear" is the biggest hit of John Michael's career, it's actually the tender Harley Allen ballad "The Little Girl." About a little girl who gets abused and neglected by her parents, the song is quite traditional and features the angelic voice of Alison Krauss.
Lyrically and musically, "Friends" is another highlight of John Michael's later stage of his career. It is a traditional ballad that says what many couples feel when either partner says: "Friends get scattered by the wind, tossed upon the waves, lost for years on end, friends, slowly drift apart, they give away their heart, maybe call you now and then, but you want to be just friends."
The first of the new songs is the Harley Allen and Brice Long (a BNA Records artist) penned track "Cool." It's a song sung from the vantage point of a child as he sees his father grow up and try to act "cool" in front of him and his friends. As the child grows older he sees why his father acted that way. "It's hard to be cool, when you're 40/20/15 Years old."
"One Day Less" is a tender ballad about everlasting love. Tom Douglas, Josh Leo and Stan Lynch wrote this ballad about a man who is so happy with his wife that he says: "One true friend, that's what you've always been to me, one true friend, that's what I always wanna be, to have someone to love you that's true happiness, may you live to be a hundred, may I live one day less."
These two new tracks are a nice way to round out the collection and sound like they belong in John Michael's "Very Best Of" collection along with his previous eighteen hit singles. Fans of 1990's country or those who came to John Michael's career after "The Little Girl" will surely want to pick up The Very Best of John Michael Montgomery for it has anything a radio fan would want and is a good primer into his whole career."
Song List:
Album cover used with permission of Warner Nashville
Audio clips courtesy of Barnes & Noble.
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