AMG Review of Anthology: The Warner/Reprise Years

Stephen Thomas Erlewine
All Music Guide

Rhino's double-disc Anthology concentrates on Emmylou Harris' Reprise recordings, which is a blessing. Once she left Reprise, she started to delve into "experimental," "atmospheric" recordings a bit too heavily, certainly more than her prior recordings would justify, and it almost obscured her purest talents -- that of a singer that carried on the tradition of, say, Patsy Cline, becoming the greatest country singer of her generation. Since her generation was the rock generation, her path crossed multiple times with singers that weren't strictly country, most notably at the beginning of her career, when she sung backing and harmony vocals for the incomparable Gram Parsons. This gave her exposure, and she capitalized upon it by turning in recordings that simultaneously appealed to rock and country artists, finding herself as a tremendous interpretive singer, somebody that perfectly balanced the divide between classic and contemporary. Rhino's double-disc Anthology perfectly captures that balance and if it has any faults, it's that it illustrates her career a little too well, finding that her classicist approach was as modern as it was reverent. So, there are moments here that seem a little too studied to be true, but that's an accurate representation of her career, illustrating how she walked the tightrope between genuine country and a scholarly interpretation of it. This will appeal to both factions, as it captures both sides of her personality equally well. That means it might not be the perfect choice to convert doubters, yet it still winds up representing Harris' career remarkably well, perhaps being the one disc for casual fans.