Playlist: The Very Best of The Dixie Chicks

The Dixie Chicks have sold over 30 Million albums since their arrival over a decade ago yet somehow they've never released a Greatest Hits package or even any 'best of'...'til now. Is this one worth getting?

The album kicks off with “Wide Open Spaces,” the Susan Gibson-penned track that announced the birth of a superstar group.  While previous singles “I Can Love You Better” and “There’s Your Trouble” and “You Were Mine” were all big hits, “Wide Open Spaces” was -and in many ways- remains their ‘signature’ hit.  “You Were Mine” is the trio’s other tune from the 12x platinum Wide Open Spaces to be featured on this collection and while that does leave those two other hits off, this CD isn’t intended to be ‘just the hits.’

“Sin Wagon” may never have been one of the eight (!) singles from the Dixie Chicks but it is nonetheless one of their seminal tracks from Fly.  It’s a song that has been performed on the American Idol stage and perhaps would’ve been a single had the Chicks’ label been willing to release it instead of something like “Heartbreak town.”  The other two tracks on Playlist: The Very Best of the Dixie Chicks are “Cowboy Take Me Away,”  one of the trio’s seminal hits and “Let Him Fly” but another standout album cut that some fans (and the band) love more than the single.  The Fly album sold an amazing 10 million copies, giving the trio a healthy 22 million albums sold in just two releases. 

Playlist: The Very Best of the Dixie Chicks features three tracks from third album Home and while the record was derailed by the George Bush incident, it did still manage to get three Top 10 singles before all hell broke loose.  Of those three singles, only “Travelin’ Soldier” isn’t included in this set and it’s replaced with the fun and spunky “Truth No. 2.”  “Long Time Gone” showed off the trio’s ‘bluegrass-y’ side while “Landslide” showed their ability to transform an iconic song into their own iconic single.  While the Stevie Nicks-penned track didn’t hit #1 on the country charts, it did manage to sit comfortably at #1 on the Adult contemporary charts, the only time the trio has broken the Top 10 of that chart. 

This Playlist collection rounds out with four tracks from Taking The Long Way.  While this may strike old Chicks fans in the heart, the album was their most successful ‘mainstream’ project as country radio barely played “Not Ready To Make Nice” or “Everybody Knows” (not included).  The title track “The Long Way Around” and the beautiful “Easy Silence” (written with Dan Wilson of Semisonic fame) are on the collection. The playful “Lubbock or Leave It” rounds out the collection.  “Not Ready To Make Nice was the trio’s third Top 10 on the all genre Hot 100 chart hit after “Landslide” and “Long Time Gone” and managed to even yield a Top 6 slot on the Pop airplay chart. 

As I said in the beginning of this review, the Playlist: The Very Best of the Dixie Chicks album is now the closest thing the Dixie Chicks have to a Greatest Hits album and while it’s true that it doesn’t feature 12 of their radio hits, the album isn’t actually that Greatest Hits album.  It’s meant to feature many of the trio’s favorite album cuts and singles all in an affordable budget-priced environmentally friendly package.  It will also have to serve as a placeholder for chicks fans until their label does eventually get around to releasing a career-spanning ‘greatest hits’ record.  Other artists with Playlist:The Very Best of albums include Brad Paisley and Martina McBride.  Paisley is another artist w/o a ‘real ‘ Greatest Hits album.

The Music: This compilation:


You can support the Dixie Chicks by purchasing this album at Amazon (CD) | Amazon mp3.

 

 

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