This is the third page of a Dolly Parton discography, looking at her best-of collections, tribute albums, film appearances and Dolly-related webpages...
This is the third page of a Dolly Parton discography, looking at her best-of collections, tribute albums, film appearances and Dolly-related webpages...
Dolly Parton "The Best Of Dolly Parton" (RCA, 1970)
Dolly Parton/Porter Wagoner "The Best Of Porter Wagoner And Dolly Parton" (RCA, 1971)
Dolly Parton "Just The Way I Am" (RCA-Camden, 1972)
Lesser-well known album tracks from early in Dolly's career (1967-70). Folks might not automatically hum these songs if they came up on the radio, but they're still dern fine tunes.
Dolly Parton "The World Of Dolly Parton" (Monument Records, 1972)
Okay, so this looks like a best-of, but it's actually a reissue of her first album, cut for the folks at Monument before Dolly signed up for her extremely successful tenure at RCA Victor. Good stuff. A nice snapshot of Parton's early career, and the wealth of material she created before she became a superstar.
Dolly Parton "The Best Of Dolly Parton" (RCA Victor, 1975)
No complaints here. Prime material from what were arguably her best years.
Dolly Parton "Dolly Parton's Greatest Hits" (RCA Victor, 1982)
Dolly Parton "Collector's Series" (RCA, 1985)
Dolly Parton "I Will Always Love You And Other Greatest Hits" (Columbia Records, 1996)
Dolly's hits from 1989-95, when she was signed with Sony's Columbia label... Includes some duets with stars of the day, such as Billy Ray Cyrus ("Romeo"), Ricky Van Shelton ("The Rockin' Years") and Vince Gill (on the title track, a re-recording of "I Will Always Love You") as well as later hits such as "White Limozeen."
Dolly Parton "The Essential, Volume One" (RCA Nashville, 1996)
Dolly Parton "The Essential, Volume Two" (RCA Nashville, 1997)
Ah, Dolly. The first volume is really godawful, heavy on the 1980s, which were not her best years. There's only one great song one here ("I Will Always Love You"), and it doesn't outweigh the drek. But Volume Two is tasty, with all kinds of stuff from the '60s and '70s which is much more representative of Dolly as we'd like to remember her. The updated, single-volume RCA Country Legends collection is a big, big improvement.
Dolly Parton & Porter Wagoner "The Essential" (RCA Nashville, 1997)
AWESOME. Dolly started off her career as the "girl singer" on the Porter Wagoner show, replacing the equally hickalicious Norma Jean. Porter certainly helped Dolly find her voice as a traditionally-oriented artist in a countrypolitan town. The duets they recorded when they were still musical partners are mostly pretty good, a lot better than you might think... and the song selection on this collection (culled from the zillions of duet albums they put out together) is great. Well worth checking out, especially since it isn't likely to stay in print forever.
Dolly Parton "The Legendary Dolly Parton" (BMG-Australia, 2000)
A budget-priced 3-CD set that covers a wide swath of Dolly's best material. When I actually pick up a copy, I'll give y'all a more full report.
Dolly Parton "Mission Chapel Memories: 1971-1975" (Raven Records, 2001)
This is a totally delicious collection focussing exclusively on Dolly's early '70s work on RCA, when, quite frankly, the gal was on fire! Starting off with "Coat Of Many Colors," this disc gathers two dozen of Parton's gems, including, yes, "Jolene" and "The Bargain Store," but more importantly mining the rich, deep reservoir of her other, less well-known material. The pacing of this album is perfect, and the songs are well selected, showing Dolly at her most relaxed, and at the peak of her creativity. Of all the Parton best-ofs out there today, this one may actually be the most fresh-sounding and rewarding. Highly recommended!
Dolly Parton "RCA Country Legends" (Buddah Records, 2002)
This disc is a huge improvement over the lackluster Parton best-ofs in the Essential (reviewed above). Here, at last, we have a retrospective that's as sexy and cool as Dolly herself, dishing out one great song after another. This set dispenses with the pop crap and zooms in on the country tunes, It's really all killer, no filler, and is the kind of best-of that an uber-hick like Dolly Parton really deserves. Highly recommended. If they come out with a second volume that is equally as good as this one, I'll pick it up, too!
Dolly Parton "The Ultimate Dolly Parton" (BMG/RCA, 2003)
Nice! This collection is noteworthy in that while it has the big, classic tracks ("Jolene," etc...) it also includes a lot of Dolly's '80s pop crossover material, ranging from irresistible "9 To 5" to other, less fondly-recalled hits. Pretty much every song on here pegged out at #1 on the charts... Which, of course, begs the question of all the other, great songs that must have fallen by the wayside. The Mission Chapel Memories compilation reviewed above would make a perfect companion to this disc.
Dolly Parton "The Acoustic Collection: 1999-2002" (Sugar Hill Records, 2006)
A four-disc set, including her three albums on Sugar Hill -- The Grass Is Blue, Little Sparrow and Halos & Horns, along with a fourth disc of bonus materials.
Dolly Parton "Dolly" (Box Set) (Sony-BMG Legacy, 2009)
There is certainly no shortage of Dolly Parton best-of collections in the world, but this one is definitely a cut above. It not only includes the big hits of her 1970s glory years, including a hefty dose of duets with her mentor Porter Wagoner, there are also a bunch of much-welcomed rarities, including recordings she did as a pre-teen singer on the Goldband label, as well as some fascinating (and very good!) "girl-group" recordings from her pre-Nashville days. Another nice inclusion is "Put It Off Until Tomorrow," a track off an 1966 album by Bill Phillips where Dolly sang harmony (just before Dolly emerged set her up as a solo artist); it would have been swell if they'd also included the other Dolly track from that same album, but this gem is nice, too, even by it's little lonesome. This is the absolute best of Parton's career, with generous excursions into the depths of her catalog... Her first album, on Monument Records, and her later indie albums from the 1990s are not represented here, but that's okay: these four CDs will give you plenty of great material to enjoy.
Dolly Parton "Letter To Heaven: Songs Of Faith And Inspiration" (Sony-BMG Legacy, 2010)
A groovy gospel set, gathering gems off of various albums recorded in Parton's early 1970's RCA glory years. It's nice stuff: nobody could sing a gospel song like Dolly did, or write one, either, as heard on gems such as "The Master's Hand," which she composed for her 1971 LP, Golden Streets Of Glory, where most of these tracks come from. Also included is one duet with her heartsong-singing mentor, Porter Wagoner, a man who showed Dolly a thing or two about keeping things simple -- that ethos applies here as well, where the arrangements are generally more stripped down than on other Nashville records of the time, giving center stage to the spiritual message, and to Parton's gloriously down-home vocals. Recommended!
Dolly Parton "The Fairest Of Them All/My Favorite Songwriter, Porter Wagoner" (Omni Recordings, 2011)
A delicious set of over-the-top country novelty songs written by Dolly Parton (on her 1969 album, Fairest Of The All) and by her patron and showbiz mentor Porter Wagoner (in a fab 1972 tribute album, My Favorite Songwriter) who shared his love of unabashed hillbilly corn and extreme melodrama with Parton, who was one of his best interpreters. It's not all gimmicks and high drama here -- there are a few regular old love songs, but Dolly's opening salvo, "Daddy Come And Get Me," sets the tone: it's an amazing number about a small-town girl who loses her mind after a failed romance and a lost pregnancy, calls her father and pleads with him to rescue her from an insane asylum. It's an exaggerated version of conservative morals in the '60s, but it's also a hilarious, outrageous novelty song, one of many wacked-out, have-to-hear-it-to-believe-it lyrical jawdroppers. Also notable are "When Possession Gets Too Strong," about being really horny in a pre-sexual revolution world, and "Mammie," an ode to an idealized black housemaid who's been more of a friend to the singer than her own family. Really, Dolly? You sure about that one? Anyway, there's a time to take country music seriously, and a time to give into its silly side, and when you're listening to Porter-era Dolly, well, you just gotta kick back and get comfortable, and let the silliness take you away. Highly recommended.
Kim Carter "The Dolly Parton Songbook As Sung By Kim Carter" (Buckboard Records, 1978) (LP)
Various Artists "Pickin' On Dolly Parton: A Bluegrass Tribute" (CMH Records, 2003)
Various Artists "JUST BECAUSE I'M A WOMAN: SONGS OF DOLLY PARTON" (Vanguard Records, 2003)
A slick tribute album featuring an all-star cast with a few questionable entries... I mean, who am I to begrudge Me'Shell N'Degeocello, Melissa Etheridge or Joan Osborne their chance to pay homage to the great Dolly P.? Still, it doesn't mean I have to get into what they record. There are some more down-to-earth artists on here, such as, well -- Alison Krauss, I guess, and Norah Jones, who displays a growing flair for countrified material. Emmylou's version of "To Daddy" is included as well, but that's actually a bit of a disappointment, since it's over 25 years old (you'd think she could contribute something new to her old buddy's tribute album...) The most adventuresome track may be from Sinead O'Connor; the best is certainly from Dolly herself, singing the lively title track (and the title of her first solo album on RCA), reminding us again why she's such a roots music goddess. Shelby Lynne, Shania Twain, Kasey Chambers and Allison Moorer are also all on here, in case anybody asks...
Dolly Parton/Various Artists "DOLLY: THE ULTIMATE COLLECTION" (Time-Life, 2020) (DVD)
Oh, hell yeah. Two discs worth of live TV performances from The Porter Wagoner Show, which showcased Dolly Parton from 1967-74, and from Parton's own show, Dolly, which ran from 1976-77. There are a bunch of clips of Dolly singing solo as well as in duets with Porter, and that stuff is all solid gold. Personally, I wish there was more of the two of them and less of their guest stars, but I'm thankful for it all.
Dolly Parton/Various Artists "DOLLY: THE ULTIMATE COLLECTION" (Time-Life, 2020) (DVD)
I have not seen all of this 19-DVD box set, just the truncated version below, which was pretty fun. Included here are all the episodes of Dolly's late-1980s TV show, as well as a slew of earlier television appearances, including live performances and duets with Porter Wagoner at the Opry and elsewhere. The other musicians here tend towards the mode modern end of the spectrum, but I guess you get what you get. Apparently there was also a budget version of "only" eleven discs, which was further pared down to the six-disc version reviewed below.
Dolly Parton/Various Artists "DOLLY: THE ULTIMATE COLLECTION" (Time-Life, 2020) (DVD)
Students of post-'Seventies pop culture would be hard pressed to find something more delightful or jaw-dropping than this 6-DVD collection, which includes episodes of Dolly Parton's late-'80s variety show, a stellar example of the low-rent glitz that typified the coked-up, lackadaisical entertainment industry of the era. To begin with: the hair. And, omigod, the clothes! You just keep asking yourself: someone actually let her walk out in from of the cameras wearing that?? It's so good. Think of all those old ABBA videos, and then multiply it by a few orders of magnitude. Then of course there are the guests, ranging from country stars new and old (even her old pal Porter drops by to say howdy!) to then-current Hollywood types such as Delta Burke, Dudley Moore and a Moonlighting-era Bruce Willis, as well as oddball options such as Hulk Hogan, Pee Wee Herman and not one, but two, glorious appearances by the inimitable Miss Piggy. Also included is a timely appearance by her pals Emmylou Harris and Linda Ronstadt, riding high on the success of the Trio album, a high point of all their careers. The show's comedy writing, while not quite at the cornball level of Hee Haw, skims along the surface of the same cow pond, yet it's the very iffy-ness of it all that makes it so delicious. Unfortunately, this collection does not include every installment of her short-lived show: about half the episodes are missing, presumably because they couldn't get legal clearances for certain songs, or whatever. It's really a shame. But what is there is a marvel to behold, and as always Dolly Parton is just so darn charming and sincere. Fans will not be disappointed, even if the 'Eighties weren't her best era. In addition to three discs worth of the TV show, there are several concert videos, late-vintage music videos and documentary features that further illuminate her career. (Perhaps the most random of these is a 1988 Bob Hope Christmas special, which wasn't really Dolly's show, though she is one of the guests. But this filler is balanced out by a 2009 concert in London, and a feature-length BBC documentary from a decade later. Dolly Parton: you gotta love her!
