AMG Review of Greatest Country Songs

John Bush
All Music Guide

This collection of Brenda Lee's country material isn't just brief -- it also consists entirely of re-recordings, the bane of many a country fan's life. These 12 songs sound like they were all produced at least 25 years after Lee's chart run of the late '50s and early '60s. While it's true that Lee still possessed a small amount of the fire she did on the originals of her rocking hit "Jambalaya," and also retained her charm with a ballad ("Johnny One Time," "You Can Depend on Me"), the arrangements are padded with a fine layer of studio gloss. It's clear that no expense was spared to record these songs (those might actually be real strings in the background of "End of the World").