Hitsides! 1970-1980
By Mel Tillis
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Track listing
- 1 Heaven Everyday 2:34
- 2 The Arms of a Fool 2:36
- 3 Heart Over Mind 2:51
- 4 I Ain't Never 2:08
- 5 Neon Rose 2:18
- 6 Sawmill 2:38
- 7 Midnight, Me and the Blues 2:45
- 8 Stomp Them Grapes 2:28
- 9 Memory Maker 2:51
- 10 Woman in the Back of My Mind 2:48
- 11 Good Woman Blues 2:50
- 12 Heart Healer 2:29
- 13 I Got the Hoss 2:54
- 14 What Did I Promise Her Last Night 3:03
- 15 I Believe in You 2:25
- 16 Ain't No California 3:35
- 17 Send Me Down to Tucson 3:35
- 18 Charlie's Angel 2:58
- 19 Coca Cola Cowboy 3:20
- 20 Your Body Is an Outlaw 3:26
- 21 Southern Rains 2:32
- 22 Ruby, Don't Take Your Love to Town 2:54
- 23 Mental Revenge 2:48
- 24 Detroit City 3:16
- 25 Burning Memories 2:41
- Total length: 70:43
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1 Review
An overdue collection of the biggest Mel Tillis hits. 21 songs here are all Top 5 Country hits - the last four are bonus tracks of his own versions of songs he wrote for others.
Mel Tillis started out as a songwriter and penned enough classics to get him into any hall-of-fame by the time the 60s ended. Among his compositions are Webb Pierce hits "Honky Tonk Song" & "I Ain't Never"; Ray Price turned "Heart Over Mind", "One More Time" and "Burning Memories" into classics; "Detroit City" is an all-time, all-American favorite in the hands of either Bobby Bare, Tom Jones, Solomon Burke or whoever and he could even write sophisticated Pop like "Emotions" for Brenda Lee. Meanwhile it's hard to find a song comparing to "Ruby, Don't Take Your Love to Town", a thought-provoking Vietnam era classic that Kris Kristofferson never wrote (& a hit for Johnny Darrell in Country and Kenny Rogers & The First Edition in Pop among many covers).
So, even if he didn't need it, in the 70s he had a long lasting string of hits of his own that is covered here. The mentioned "I Ain't Never" and "Heart Over Mind" became hits all over again and for many other hits it didn't matter if he wrote them or not. The style reaches from those honky-tonkers that are not too far off from the previous versions, to especially ballads ("I Believe in You"), Waylon-like outlaw flirts ("Good Woman Blues"), smart novelty's ("Coca Cola Cowboy") and proud country-life narratives like "Sawmill" or "Southern Rains". He's a traditionalist and fighter of the good fight in any sense and it's no wonder he remains such a beloved statesman of Country music. That he needs to be remembered for more than a his stuttering (that never got apparent when he started to sing) and being the father of Pam Tillis should be clear so I wonder why it took so long (until today) for anyone to write a review on a Mel Tillis release here.
Mel Tillis started out as a songwriter and penned enough classics to get him into any hall-of-fame by the time the 60s ended. Among his compositions are Webb Pierce hits "Honky Tonk Song" & "I Ain't Never"; Ray Price turned "Heart Over Mind", "One More Time" and "Burning Memories" into classics; "Detroit City" is an all-time, all-American favorite in the hands of either Bobby Bare, Tom Jones, Solomon Burke or whoever and he could even write sophisticated Pop like "Emotions" for Brenda Lee. Meanwhile it's hard to find a song comparing to "Ruby, Don't Take Your Love to Town", a thought-provoking Vietnam era classic that Kris Kristofferson never wrote (& a hit for Johnny Darrell in Country and Kenny Rogers & The First Edition in Pop among many covers).
So, even if he didn't need it, in the 70s he had a long lasting string of hits of his own that is covered here. The mentioned "I Ain't Never" and "Heart Over Mind" became hits all over again and for many other hits it didn't matter if he wrote them or not. The style reaches from those honky-tonkers that are not too far off from the previous versions, to especially ballads ("I Believe in You"), Waylon-like outlaw flirts ("Good Woman Blues"), smart novelty's ("Coca Cola Cowboy") and proud country-life narratives like "Sawmill" or "Southern Rains". He's a traditionalist and fighter of the good fight in any sense and it's no wonder he remains such a beloved statesman of Country music. That he needs to be remembered for more than a his stuttering (that never got apparent when he started to sing) and being the father of Pam Tillis should be clear so I wonder why it took so long (until today) for anyone to write a review on a Mel Tillis release here.
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