Gentle on My Mind

The best of 's early albums, and also his first real commercial success. Ironically, the title track (written by ) which started on the road to stardom, was never intended for release -- he had submitted it as a demo, and issued it, to everybody's profit. 's cover of is one of the finest covers of a song ever done, stripping away any hint of the composer's sub- pretensions and bringing out the song's genuine beauty -- it's folk-pop, in the same manner that 's was, but excellent folk-pop. This is 's folksiest album, albeit with string orchestra accompaniment, as he covers and the title tune, and you get to hear him do a solo guitar and voice number, his own Even the most overproduced stuff here, and come off well, and is in excellent voice throughout, most especially on a wonderfully restrained and beautiful rendition of was reissued in August of 2001 as part of Capitol-Nashville's "Cornerstones" series, in an upgraded, remastered edition with crisper sound than the 1996 Capitol CD. ~ Bruce Eder