Conway Twitty Ultimate Collection

A Conway Twitty collection from 1999 emerged on a subsidiary label of MCA's called Hip-O Records. Ultimate Collection set about collecting hit singles from Conway's career that were considered his signature songs for the most part. The year that this collection was released, 1999, is the year Conway was finally enshrined in the Country Music Hall of Fame. This honor came 6 years after he passed away.

A lot of this material has appeared on countless other Conway compilations through the years but the appearance of original recordings is what sets this collection apart from others that were on the market that year. A lot of times smaller record labels and overseas imports tend to use the re-recordings Conway did in 1982 of his biggest hit songs...it's rare to come across a collection that features the original hit recordings. The project features an exhaustive essay/liner notes by Colin Escott and there are 18 songs included. I have the cassette version and 11 songs fill up side one and seven songs fill up side two.

Another thing about this collection is the later picture of Conway...taken I believe in 1992...which is used on the front of the CD. Usually record labels when putting together a compilation album use a familiar picture of the artist but not this time. As far as I know this was the first time this particular picture of Conway graced an album cover.



The songs that appear on the Ultimate Collection are as follows:

1. It's Only Make Believe; 1958
2. Lonely Blue Boy; 1960
3. Hello Darlin; 1970
4. Next In Line; 1968
5. After The Fire Is Gone; 1971 with Loretta Lynn
6. You've Never Been This Far Before; 1973
7. Louisiana Woman, Mississippi Man; 1973 with Loretta Lynn
8. Linda On My Mind; 1975
9. Play, Guitar Play; 1977
10. I'd Love To Lay You Down; 1980
11. Tight Fittin' Jeans; 1981
12. Slow Hand; 1982
13. I Don't Know a Thing About Love; 1984
14. Desperado Love; 1986
15. Julia; 1987
16. That's My Job; 1987
17. Crazy In Love; 1990
18. Rainy Night in Georgia; 1993 with Sam Moore

A similar picture appears on the compilation CD, 20 Greatest Hits that MCA issued in 1993. This was among the several compilation albums that were issued following Conway's death. This particular collection was originally issued in 1987 to celebrate Conway's return to MCA after his four year stay at the Warner Brothers company, 1982-1986. MCA re-issued this in 1990 on CD and then re-released it again in 1993 but the interesting thing is the liner notes from 1987 were kept intact, which was okay, because you get to read commentary from a writer during that exact time-period, but because the original liner notes were kept there wasn't any indication that Conway had recently passed away. Another indication of this being an album re-issued after his passing away aside from the dated liner notes is the material abruptly ends in 1981...at that time it was Conway's final year on MCA prior to him going back in 1987.



The songs on that release are:

1. Hello Darlin'; 1970
2. Fifteen Years Ago; 1970
3. I Can't See Me Without You; 1972
4. Lost Her Love On Our Last Date; 1972
5. Baby's Gone; 1973
6. You've Never Been This Far Before; 1973
7. I'm Not Through Loving You Yet; 1974
8. Linda On My Mind; 1975
9. There's a Honky Tonk Angel; 1974
10. I Can't Believe She Gives It All To Me; 1976
11. I See The Want To In Your Eyes; 1974
12. Don't Cry, Joni; 1975 with Joni {his daughter}
13. Georgia Keeps Pulling On My Ring; 1978
14. I've Already Loved You In My Mind; 1977
15. Don't Take It Away; 1979
16. I May Never Get To Heaven; 1979
17. I'd Love To Lay You Down; 1980
18. Rest Your Love On Me; 1981
19. Tight Fittin' Jeans; 1981
20. Red Neckin' Love Makin' Night; 1981

The songs were listed based upon their recording dates. This is why several of the songs are out of order chronologically. For example, "I Can't Believe She Gives It All To Me" was a #1 hit for Conway in early 1977 but he had recorded the song at a session in 1974, according to the information, January 4, 1974 to be exact. "I'm Not Through Loving You Yet" was recorded on the same day as "You've Never Been This Far Before", April 4, 1973. As far as year of release is concerned, "I'm Not Through Loving You Yet" wasn't issued until nearly a year later, in 1974. So, there are a lot of instances where the songs that were being heard on the radio from Conway could have been recorded a year or two prior to their release. I do not know if that was as common back then as it is now...to sit on a song for at least 2 years before it gets released to radio as was the case with "Linda On My Mind", which was a huge hit for Conway in 1975 but it was recorded on June 19, 1973. "Red Neckin' Love Makin' Night", the CD's closer, was a #1 in early 1982 but it was released in late 1981...having been recorded in October 1980, a day after "Tight Fittin' Jeans" was recorded. As you can tell I'm fascinated by numbers.