Name: 20th Century Masters - The Millennium Collection: The Best of Burl Ives
Brand: MCA
SKU: 8864
Availability: OutOfStock
Rating: 5 (1 reviews)

20th Century Masters - The Millennium Collection

Rating

Album: 20th Century Masters - The Millennium Collection: The Best of Burl Ives
#	Song Title	Time
1)	Little Bitty Tear, A - (with Burl Ives)
2)	Funny Way of Laughin' - (with Burl Ives)
3)	Lavender Blue (Dilly Dilly) - (with Burl Ives)
4)	Blue Tail Fly - (with The Andrews Sisters/Burl Ives)
5)	Wild Side of Life - (with Burl Ives)
6)	Call Me Mr. In-Between - (with Burl Ives)
7)	Pearly Shells (Popo O Ewa) - (with Burl Ives)
8)	Mary Ann Regrets - (with Burl Ives)
9)	Same Old Hurt, The - (with Burl Ives)
10)	Big Rock Candy Mountain - (with Burl Ives)
11)	Foggy Dew, The - (with Burl Ives)
12)	Goober Peas - (with Burl Ives)

Album: 20th Century Masters - The Millennium Collection: The Best of Burl Ives
#	Song Title	Time
1)	Little Bitty Tear, A - (with Burl Ives)
2)	Funny Way of Laughin' - (with Burl Ives)
3)	Lavender Blue (Dilly Dilly) - (with Burl Ives)
4)	Blue Tail Fly - (with The Andrews Sisters/Burl Ives)
5)	Wild Side of Life - (with Burl Ives)
6)	Call Me Mr. In-Between - (with Burl Ives)
7)	Pearly Shells (Popo O Ewa) - (with Burl Ives)
8)	Mary Ann Regrets - (with Burl Ives)
9)	Same Old Hurt, The - (with Burl Ives)
10)	Big Rock Candy Mountain - (with Burl Ives)
11)	Foggy Dew, The - (with Burl Ives)
12)	Goober Peas - (with Burl Ives)

Performer Notes

Recorded between 1945 and 1964. Includes liner notes by Joseph Laredo.
Compilation producers: Joseph F. Laredo, Andy McKaie.
Digitally remastered by Doug Schwartz (Audio Mechanics, Los Angeles, California).
Personnel: The Andrews Sisters (vocals).
Liner Note Author: Joseph F. Laredo.
Recording information: 02/27/1945-11/20/1962.
Photographer: Joseph F. Laredo.
Arranger: Burl Ives.
MCA/Decca's full-priced 18-track Burl Ives collection Greatest Hits, released in 1996, was still in print when the label issued this 12-track budget set five years later, so it's worth comparing the two. The less-expensive album actually contains a couple of big hits -- Ives' Top 40 pop/Top Ten country cover of Hank Thompson's "Wild Side of Life" from 1952 and the 1962 single "Mary Ann Regrets," which went Top 40 pop and Top 20 country and easy listening -- not featured on the more expensive one. In fact, there is an overlap of only seven tracks between the two albums. On the whole, Greatest Hits is the preferable compilation, boasting roughly chronological sequencing and including some minor chart entries not featured on the new album, as well as licensing the Top Ten pop hit "On Top of Old Smoky" from Columbia Records. But 20th Century Masters -- The Millennium Collection: The Best of Burl Ives (despite the hopelessly ungainly title) really covers the essentials, from the early signature songs like "Big Rock Candy Mountain" and "Foggy, Foggy Dew" to the early-'60s country hits like "A Little Bitty Tear" and "Funny Way of Laughin'." Ives recorded prolifically for Decca Records in the '40s, '50s, and '60s, and compilations of his occasional fluke hits over the years aren't really representative of his overall output. (For one thing, they make him seem like more of a country artist that he was.) But if one accepts the premise of a best-of that assembles an artist's most broadly exposed tracks on a single disc, this one is as good as any and arguably a better buy for the money than the 1996 Greatest Hits album. ~ William Ruhlmann