Greatest Hits

Only the second compilation in his long career -- third, if , the 2003 collection of his soundtrack appearances, is counted -- runs 15 songs, the same length as 2001's . Seven of those songs are shared -- mainly early singles from his first two albums ("Cowboy Man," "God Will," "Why I Don't Know," "Give Back My Heart," "I Loved You Yesterday," "If I Had a Boat," "If I Were the Man You Wanted") -- and the rest of the compilation adds his other country charting singles, starting with 1986's "Farther Down the Line," running through 1988's "She's No Lady," and adding "I Married Her Because She Looks Like You," "Stand by Your Man," "Nobody Knows Me," "Don't Touch My Hat," and "Private Conversation." Given that is as much an album artist as a hitmaker, there are some inevitable omissions here -- "You've Been So Good Up to Now," a mainstream Top 40 hit in 1992, is absent, as are the Texas tourism anthem "That's Right (You're Not from Texas)" and the Toy Story hit "You've Got a Friend in Me," not to mention deep cuts like "L.A. County," "Here I Am," and "Church," among many others -- but as a basic portrait of 's best-known material, this is a solid set. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine