Toby Keith : 35 Biggest Hits

Country Music Reviews

Toby Keith : 35 Biggest Hits

What makes Toby Keith's "35 Biggest Hits" album fascinate as well as entertain is the way the  tracks are ordered chronologically.

It outlines the highs and lows of his career in sharp relief starting with his first number 1, "Should've Been A Cowboy" and ending with his latest single, the atrocious "She's A Hottie".

As I listened I began to wonder why I hadn't marked anything as exceptional before track 12, and then found I'd also marked tracks 13 through 16 as worthy of comment too.

A check on the CD inlay showed I was enjoying songs recorded or released between 1997 and 1999 and that I didn't much care for the stuff that came before or after that.

Now, that's NOT to say there is no great Toby Keith material before it reaches "We Were In Love" - it just means that, in my view, Keith hadn't marked himself out as an artist until then.

And it doesn't mean that there's nothing good after that: indeed, the best track of the 35 is "A Little Too Late" from 2006.

1993's "A Little Less Talk and A Lot More Action" is a landmark track. It marks where Keith thought then - and presumably thinks now - his strength lies: songs about tough cowboys getting some "action" with the prettiest beer -drinking girl. It's become his laddish hallmark (and not a little repetitive) and it does him no favors.

Pre-1997 songs like "Wish I Didn't Know Now" and "Who's That Man" are noteworthy too but they are not exceptional unlike 1997's "We Were In Love" written by Chuck Cannon and Allen Shamblin.

Suddenly Keith shows how well he can sing. The shouting's gone, the mic's up close and the chorus is one of the most memorable Country hooks ever recorded.

He repeats the trick on "I'm So Happy I Can't Stop Crying" - Keith's remarkable duet with my fellow Geordie, Sting.

Highlight on the first CD has to be "Getcha Some". It is a superb song (written by Keith and Chuck Cannon) and it was Keith's brilliant delivery which made it a hit in 1998.

I have to make mention of "How Do You Like Me Now?" (I'll answer that question lower down the review.)  This has to be one of the most vicious and unpleasant Country lyrics EVER written.

Storyline: snooty schoolgirl turns down fellow pupil who says he's going to be a Country star; she weds a ne'er do well who leaves her poverty stricken and living an appalling life. And how does our guitar playing hero react to her troubles? He gets up on stage and pokes fun at her. APPALLING.

And judging by the songs he's written and sung since that 1999 hit, it seems that, true or not, this is what Keith would like folks to think he's become.

The second CD was, for me, a tragic trip through Keith's decline to Nashpop star.

There are gems, but the CD seesaws between brilliant and appalling much like Keith's career.

There are the obligatory drinking songs - the brilliant "I Love This Bar" which will become a Country classic, and the appalling "Get Drunk And Be Somebody" which propounds the theory that getting smashed makes you a better person. Great role model. (NOT!)

"Courtesy Of The Red White And Blue (The Angry American) other than to say it is patriotic jingoism; it's xenophobia gone mad; and in the context of when it was written, it is also completely understandable. Decide for yourself whether I agree with the idea of bombing hell out of people in revenge for their atrocities.

The best track on the collection is "A Little Too Late" from Keith's 2006 "White Trash With Money" album. What is amazing about the collection is that there aren't more than two tracks from the album.  "White Trash" took Keith back to his best.

So How Do I Like him now? Not much. He's done some great stuff but habitually veers off in directions which leave Country radio confused about whether it should be playing his music and tickets to his gigs selling like cold cakes.

Keith fans will love the collection, and for them, I would heartily recommend it.

For the rest of us - who find much of his stuff beyond the pale or just appalling: we're better off signing up to a download service and just picking out the tracks we like.

My View: This guy COULD be one of Country's all time greats. This collection shows he's too inconsistent to be that yet!

What do YOU think?? Tell us here!