AMG Review of Love Songs

William Ruhlmann
All Music Guide

This ten-song budget compilation gathers some of Charlie Rich's biggest hits, some minor chart entries, and some album tracks in its aim to sample the singer's ballad work. "Behind Closed Doors" is included, as is another country number one, "A Very Special Love Song." In concert with the latter hit, Rich made an album called Very Special Love Songs in 1974, and that's an obvious source for selections, with such tunes as "Why Don't We Go Somewhere and Love" and "Satisfied Man" plucked from it. Thus, not every song will be familiar to the casual fan, but as the title suggests, this is a mood collection, and Rich was often at his best in this smoldering mode.