1. Five O'Clock 500 - (previously unreleased)
2. Keepin' Up - (previously unreleased)
3. How Do You Fall In Love - (previously unreleased)
4. Tennessee River - Alabama, Owen, Randy
5. Why Lady Why - Alabama, Gentry, Teddy
6. Old Flame - Alabama, Lowery, Donny
7. Feels So Right - Alabama, Owen, Randy
8. Love in the First Degree - Alabama, Dubois, Tim
9. Mountain Music - Alabama, Owen, Randy
10. Take Me Down - Alabama, Pennington, J.P.
11. Close Enough to Perfect
12. Dixieland Delight
13. The Closer You Get
14. Lady Down on Love - Alabama, Owen, Randy
15. Roll On (Eighteen Wheeler)
16. When We Make Love - Alabama, Seals, Troy
17. If You're Gonna Play in Texas (You Gotta Have a Fiddle in the Band) - Alabama, Mitchell, Dan [1]
18. (There's A) Fire in the Night - Alabama, Corbin, Bob
19. There's No Way - Alabama, Palas, Lisa
20. Forty Hour Week (For a Livin') - Alabama, Loggins, Dave
21. Can't Keep a Good Man Down - Alabama, Corbin, Bob
22. She and I - Alabama, Loggins, Dave
23. Touch Me When We're Dancing - Alabama, Skinner, Terry
24. You've Got the Touch - Alabama, Robinson, William
25. Face to Face - Alabama, Owen, Randy
26. Fallin' Again - Alabama, Gentry, Teddy
27. Song of the South - Alabama, McDill, Bob
28. If I Had You - Alabama, Mayo, Danny Bear
29. High Cotton - Alabama, Murrah, Roger
30. Southern Star - Alabama, Murrah, Roger
31. Jukebox in My Mind - Alabama, Gibson, Dave
32. Forever's as Far as I'll Go - Alabama, Reid, Mike
33. Down Home - Alabama, Bowles, Rick
34. Here We Are - Alabama, Chapman, Beth Niels
35. Then Again - Alabama, Bowles, Rick
36. Born Country - Alabama, Schweers, John
37. I'm in a Hurry (And Don't Know Why) - Alabama, Murrah, Roger
38. Once Upon a Lifetime - Alabama, Baker, Gary
39. Hometown Honeymoon - Alabama, Leo, Josh
40. Reckless - Alabama, Stevens, Jeff
41. Give Me One More Shot - Alabama, Gentry, Teddy
42. She Ain't Your Ordinary Girl - Alabama, Jason, Robert
43. In Pictures - Alabama, Doyle, Joe
44. Sad Lookin' Moon - Alabama, Owen, Randy
Amazon.com
Alabama epitomizes the term people's band. Never a critics' favorite, the quartet from Fort Payne, Alabama, presents slick, sentimental songs that unerringly catch the ear of fans yet mystify those who don't hear the appeal. This two-CD career retrospective, which presents all 41 of the group's No. 1 hits, underlines just how successful they've been. The strengths are there: Randy Owen's clear, deep, intimate vocals; the focus on accessible melodies and musical hooks; and the straightforward song sense that plainly celebrates love, family, and home with all the simplicity of homilies stitched into a framed kitchen doily. Some might argue about Alabama's artistic value, but the band's 18-year track record offers a convincing retort. --Michael McCall
|
For the Record: 41 Number One Hits
- Audio CD: 0 pages (1998-08-25)
- Publisher: RCA
- Label: RCA
- Studio: RCA
- Average Customer Review:
 based on 41 reviews
- Sales Rank in Music: #16848
Avg. Customer Review:
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:
Customer Rating: 
Summary: Disc #1 better than Disc #2, but this is still a great Alabama retrospective 2007-05-02
Comment: For The Record(called Essential Alabama in its most recent incarnation) is a collection of Alabama's #1 hits. The members of Alabama(lead singer/guitarist Randy Owen, lead guitarist Jeff Cook, bass player Teddy Gentry, and drummer Mark Herndon) paid their dues for years before finally hitting it big in 1980. Indeed, Alabama made history, being the first country band to make a big splash on the music charts. I was a fan of Alabama back in the early '80s, and although this collection includes only the band's #1 songs, it still is a great record.
Disc #1 is the stronger of this record's two discs. "Tennessee River", with its awesome fiddle work, was Alabama's first #1 song back in 1980. "Mountain Music"(Alabama's signature song), "Dixieland Delight", "Take Me Down", "The Closer You Get", "Roll On", "If You're Gonna Play In Texas", "Fire In The Night", "You Can't Keep A Good Man Down" and "She And I" are also great uptempo numbers. The classic ballads "Why Lady Why", "Old Flame", "Feels So Right", "Close Enough To Perfect", "Lady Down On Love", "When We Make Love", and "There's No Way" are among Alabama's best. Alabama's newer songs, the workaholic anthems "Five O'Clock 500" and "Keepin' Up" and the romantic ballad "How Do You Fall In Love", are also very good songs.
However, I don't like Disc #2 as well as Disc #1. Alabama starts off the disc well, but I think some of the band's later upbeat numbers are kind of goofy. The Southern anthems "Song Of The South" and "Southern Star", along with the traditional-sounding "High Cotton", "Jukebox In My Mind", "Down Home", and "Born Country", rank up there with Alabama's early '80s songs. However, this record's second disc also includes "I'm In A Hurry", "Hometown Honeymoon", and "She Ain't Your Ordinary Girl", which to me border on the slap-happy. To Alabama's credit, "Reckless", "Sad Lookin' Moon", and "Give Me One More Shot" are solid uptempo numbers. They're well-done and well-written. As on the first disc, Alabama also has some excellent ballads: "You've Got The Touch", "Face To Face", "If I Had You", "Forever's As Far As I Go", "Then Again", "Once Upon A Lifetime", and "In Pictures". The latter song, where the man is looking at pictures of his daughter that his ex-wife sends him, is a haunting portrait of how time gets away from us.
The guys in Alabama were country music hitmakers throughout the '80s and '90s. Although Alabama's later music wasn't as good as their early hits, they have built a solid musical legacy. For The Record is a solid collection of chart-toppers from this legendary group.
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:
Customer Rating: 
Summary: Great!!! 2007-04-10
Comment: Is Great seeing Alabama going the Christian Music way it so neat seeing Country Artist going the way to Christian Music! I do like this Album
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:
Customer Rating: 
Summary: Great addition to your country music collection 2006-02-06
Comment: This CD is a great addition to anyone's country music collection.
Not only does this Cd contain 41 number one songs for the group at the time it was released but some of the new songs that were put on the album eventually also were big hits.
Whether you are a big Alabama fan or just love country music you will love this CD.
0 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
Customer Rating:
Summary: gotta have a fiddle in the band 2005-05-18
Comment: awesome bluegrass/country sound.. back when country stations played.. well, country
5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
Customer Rating: 
Summary: A non-fan's appraisal 2005-02-11
Comment: I like country, but I'll confess I've never really been an Alabama fan. My wife however was a big enough fan to get this collection, so I decided to give it a 2nd listen. A band that hit the top of the country charts 41 times between 1977 and 2002 must be doing something right, right?
Having given these 39 songs (2 of them of unreleased tracks so it's not really fair to critique them as harshly..the band themselves had thought they weren't up to snuff..) an honest second hearing, my opinion isn't shaken a whole lot.
There are some great spots amid the collection, notably "Tennessee River" which is probably as close as the band ever flirted with southern rock on the charts, "Mountain Music" (which ironically doesn't have very much in common with the bluegrass it celebrates, save a VERY short fiddle solo...I think the gentleman who says they edited the songs for this collection is correct.), and "If You're Gonna Play in Texas" (which tips its hats to traditional country. Again, the fiddle solo seems to have been shortchanged.) "Close Enough to Perfect" is a tender love song and "Lady Down on Love" focuses on love's end. "Closer you Get" and "Reckless" are uptempo Charmers. "In Pictures" is a look at divorce from the side of the non-custodial father. It's truly touching.
But there are 2 big problems with this much Alabama in one place:
1) It points out how little risk they took lyrically and musically. "Workmanlike" is a very apt description for their work. Over and over, you can hear how they worked a "formula" to get hits. Do one about faithful wives. Do one about being from the country and/or the South. Do one about hardworking folks.
2) You can see the downward spiral. Notice that "Reckless" and "In Pictures" are the only ones I gave high marks to on the 2nd disc. The others are 3 star material (solidly mediocre) and below.
It's not that Alabama is downright bad..it's only rarely that the material here really stinks. It's just bland..played back to back to back, it's sometimes hard to tell which is which. Sadly, Alabama's lasting contribution to country music is probably going to be as part of the "Urban Cowboy" phenomenon that blurred the lines between country and pop.
|
For the Record: 41 Number One Hits
Enlarge View