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THE DEFINITIVE COLLECTION
MCA
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This 25-track retrospective is an essential companion to the Jack White–produced comeback Van Lear Rose (MCA). That album had Lynn reflecting on her life and art; this one captures her experiencing it. Her earliest hits — 1964’s "Wine, Women and Song" and ’65’s "You Ain’t Woman Enough (To Take My Man)" — are the work of a clear-voiced innocent from the mountains singing about faith and devotion and what she values most: love. Her "Blue Kentucky Girl" is one of the widest-eyed love-song performances ever; it’s as affecting as the autobiographical "Coal Miner’s Daughter," which is also here. The second half of the decade finds her a little older, wiser, and worn, fighting her husband’s girlfriends with spunk in "Fist City" and "Woman of the World." And like the rest of the nation, she’s charged by the sexual and social revolution of the 1970s, as is reflected in 1971’s "Rated ‘X’ " and ’72’s "The Pill." After a decade in the business, Lynn became a savvy insider, teaming with Conway Twitty for a string of guaranteed smash duets. The disc ends in the late 1970s, when trad artists like Lynn and Johnny Cash were being swept aside by the countrypolitan sound. The final gem, a cover of mentor Patsy Cline’s "She’s Got You," is as emotional as the original.
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