Comments on: Buyer’s Guide: Dolly Parton

By: Gator

Gator — Sun, 19 Jun 2011 03:11:41 +0000

You should do more of these!!

By: Dale

Dale — Sun, 04 Jan 2009 22:42:12 +0000

I agree that “Rainbow” is one of Dolly’s worst albums. Over-produced and a rather trivial album that Dolly seemed to relese just to fill some time and possibly because she was contractually obligued to. “Dump The Dude” is painful to listen too, but if you skip enough tracks you will come to the only highlight on the album, the beautiful “More Than I Can Say” (which later morphed into the equally beautiful “Unlikely Angel” from the TV movie of the same name, which has sadly never been released on an album)

I also agree it is very annoying that the same songs are always put together on the countless compilations. Delve deper into Dolly’s catalogue and thee are some amazing songs that were never released as singles and so are considered “unpopular”. I’d like to see these released as well as songs from her TV movies, many of which are fantastic but hae never appeared on an album (like the aforementioned “Unlikely Angel” and “Wild Texas Wind”)

Amongst my favourite albums are “Eagle When She Flies” (which is full of traditional, well written country songs) “Halos & Horns” (a strong album and with the quite simply amazing “These Old Bones” and the emotional “What A Heartache”) “Something Special” (because “Crippled Bird”, “Change”, “Teach Me To Trust” and “No Good Way Of Saying Goodbye” are four of Dolly’s best songs in my opinion) and “Joshua” (because the title track and “Chicken Every Sunday” are two of my all time faves!)

By: Mary

Mary — Sun, 04 Jan 2009 20:49:51 +0000

That’s a great list. But like some others I do think that Burlap and Satin is a wonderful album. There are some songs I skip but “Gamble Either Way” is amazing as well as “Calm on the Water”. I also like “Jealous Heart.” Slow Dancing with the Moon is an awesome album in my opinion as well. The title track is one of my favorite songs!

I also wish that they would start releasing her older studio albums instead of all the compilations of songs that I already have on mulitple discs!! I would love to have all of her older albums on CD, so I agree with everyone there!

By: Ralph Suarez

Ralph Suarez — Thu, 01 Jan 2009 14:31:36 +0000

I almost fell out of my chair in laughter when I read Sheldon’s comments about the whispering. I agree. Although on the new album, Backwoods Barbie, I thought the sobbing on the Do You Think I’m Made of Stone song was effective and really underscored the perspective of the song, conveying the sorrow that is felt by the story teller.

This list is really good. I used to own so many Dolly records and now, I own just a couple of CDs. The difficulty in choosing a favorite Dolly album is that any album will always have one song that is a real gem. On some albums, it is more than one or two or three.

I learned so much about the music these past couple of days, reading not only the original posts but also the comments that many of you have written. What I would really like is a box set that is set up much like the Vince Gill These Days collection. Wouldn’t it be great to compile some of these gems, buried on these vintage albums and cataloging them by musical style? I would buy it in an instant!

Happy New you all. May 2009 be awfully kind to you and I am hoping that this year will be the year that Dolly releases that double album, that takes her across all the roads she has travelled musically, a full circle back to her authenticity!

By: Razor X

Razor X — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 18:44:37 +0000

Burlap & Satin was the first studio album of Dolly’s that I ever bought. I still have the cassette that I got way back in 1983. There are a couple of weak songs on it, but it’s always been one of my favorite Dolly albums. As I recall, it garnered mostly favorable reviews at the time and was nominated for a Grammy. It contains some real gems; I definitely would not call it “dull and lifeless”.

“Rainbow” is not one of my favorites, but it’s all right if you accept it for what it is — a pop album that made no pretense of being country. “Dolly, Dolly, Dolly” and “Heartbreaker” are her two worst albums.

As an aside note, on January 20th Sony is releasing yet another compilation of Dolly’s RCA years, offering nothing that hasn’t appeared on countless other compilations. I wish they’d stop re-hashing the same old stuff over and over again and instead concentrate on re-releasing some of her 70s albums in their entirety.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001M6FWAE/ref=br_nf_5_2?pf_rd_p=285511601&pf_rd_s=center-13&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_i=16&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_r=1QGJMEQJXDSG84V4WVE7

By: Carson

Carson — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 17:40:33 +0000

Great work Kevin!

I will have to make a huge Dolly Parton “Best Hits Throughout the Year” playlist one of these days.

I agree with “Rainbow” being, at least fairly low. “Dump the Dude”?…yeah…that’s not a good one.

I REALLY love “Backwoods Barbie”, the whole CD, though.

By: Settlement Will Allow Country Music Hall of Fame to Keep Historic Instruments | The 9513

Wed, 31 Dec 2008 17:04:32 +0000

[...] If you’re not familiar with Dolly Parton’s catalog, you’re in luck–Country Universe’s Kevin J. Coyne put together a handy buyer’s guide. [...]

By: Dan Milliken

Dan Milliken — Tue, 30 Dec 2008 23:22:03 +0000

Excellent work here, Kevin. If nothing else, it’s a great place to start for people like me who just like to cherry-pick.

By: Rainbow

Rainbow — Tue, 30 Dec 2008 19:43:55 +0000

I think she’s in fine voice on “Slow Dancing…”, it’s just that she sounds bored on it. “Something Special”, however, is a rather brilliant album IMO.

By: Sheldon

Sheldon — Tue, 30 Dec 2008 19:24:20 +0000

Rainbow; I agree that “Slow Dancing with the Moon” is a rather weak effort for the most part – “More Where That Came From” is a standout on that one…”Slow Dancing” is also the album that Dolly began to whisper through entire songs…something she continued on “Something Special”, and many others. I love Dolly’s voice, and she sounds great singing softly, but the whisper effect does nothing for me…someone must have told her it sounded “cute”. ’cause she’s milking it!
I agree that “Burlap and Satin” might sound a bit dated thanks to the production, but it does have some gems as far as the songs go. “A Gamble Either Way” is a great one written for, but not used in “Best Little Whorehouse” The line “A fifteen-year old girl has no trouble hitching rides, but sometimes when you’re ridin’ free, you pay the highest price… Damn, Dolly can really nail it when she wants to!