Browse Music
Rock & Pop
R&B & Hip-Hop
Country
Blues
Jazz
Classical
Latin
Christian
Soundtracks
Collections
Robert Earl Keen
Best
Robert Earl Keen:  Best

$6.99
Listen Greatest Hits

Album Review

Released: 2007
Label: Koch Records
Selection #: 171778
Merry Christmas From The Family, The Road Goes On Forever, Gringo Honeymoon, For Love, No Kinda Dance, Whenever Kindness Fails, Paint The Town Beige, 10 more.
Listen RM WM
1 No Kinda Dance
2 Willie
3 Armadillo Jackal
4 Paint the Town Beige
5 Whenever Kindness Fails
6 Corpus Christi Bay
7 Merry Christmas from the Family
8 The Road (Intro)
9 The Road Goes on Forever
10 Furnace Fan
11 All I Have Is Today
12 Let the Music Play
13 For Love
14 Mr. Wolf and Mama Bear
15 Ride
16 Feeling Good Again
17 Gringo Honeymoon
18 I'm Comin' Home
  
Download Player:    Real Media Real Media    Windows Media Windows Media
Album Review

Robert Earl Keen is an archetypical Texas singer/songwriter, someone who can mine both laughter and tragedy from life along the dusty margins of life in the Lone Star State, and seeing that he's been recording good-to-great albums of his material since 1984, a comprehensive and well-programmed compilation offering a fully rounded introduction to his music would be more than welcome. However, 2007's "Best" isn't quite that album. While Keen had recorded a dozen albums by the time this was released, "Best" draws its 17 tunes from only six discs, two of which are live albums and three of which ("Farm Fresh Onions", "What I Really Mean" and "Live at the Ryman") are relatively recent efforts that presumably dominate the second half of this collection because they were easy to license rather than because they represent Keen's finest work. Quite frankly, a number of Keen's best songs are missing, such as "Dreadful Selfish Crime," "The Front Porch Song" and "I Wonder Where My Baby Is Tonight," while fan favorites like "The Five Pound Bass," "The Buckin' Song," "Barbecue" and "The Bluegrass Widow" don't make the cut, either. That said, if "Best" doesn't quite present Keen's best material (or even all his best known), there's little arguing that what's here is great stuff; Keen, who compiled this disc, has edited a satisfying sampler, hitting a graceful balance between crowd pleasers like "Merry Christmas From The Family" and "The Road Goes On Forever" (the latter prefaced by a rambling story in which Keen loses his car and his girl but meets Willie Nelson) and more resonant numbers like "Corpus Christi Bay," "Whenever Kindness Fails" and "For Love." If you're looking for a concise, career-spanning overview of Robert Earl Keen's long career in music, "Best" isn't as much help as you might wish, but the consistent quality is a sure convincer if you or someone you know wants some evidence of Keen's very real talent as a tunesmith and a performer. ~ Mark Deming, All Music Guide

Back To Top
Shipping Is Always Free
About This Artist
Biography


Other albums by: Robert Earl Keen
Robert Earl Keen:  Gravitational Forces Listen Robert Earl Keen
Gravitational Forces

$6.99

more
Related Artists
Guy Clark
Rodney Crowell
Steve Earle
Steve Earle And The Dukes
Nanci Griffith
Willie Nelson
Jerry Jeff Walker
Townes Van Zandt
Pat Green
Willie Nelson & Friends
Willie Nelson & Ray Price
Willie Nelson & Leon Russell
Willie Nelson & Family
more

Any reproduction, publication, further distribution, or public exhibition of materials provided at this site, in whole or in part, is strictly prohibited.
©2006 All Media Guide, LLC
Portions of content provided by All Music Guide®, a trademark of All Media Guide, LLC