The Greatest: Duets

As part of 's ongoing celebration of 's 80th Birthday in 2012, the label assembled a series of compilations under the rubric " ." The concept of this 14-track compilation is clear: it is a collection of duets cut for between 1967 and 1985. Some of these cuts appeared on albums by other artists ("Girl from the North Country" is pulled from 's ), some were not released at the time (his duet "I Got Stripes" was a bonus track on the 2002 reissue of ), some are pulled from 's TV show (the opening "I've Been Everywhere" with ), a few are duets with his wife , and a couple are with his companions and , while most derive from albums released himself over the years. Despite this pedigree, some of these duets veer toward the glitzy showbiz side -- "There Ain't No Good Chain Gang" has splashy horns, the production of the duet "Crazy Old Soldier" is so slick you can see your reflection in it -- but that's not necessarily a bad thing, as there's always an easy camaraderie between and his partners, which is enough to keep things enjoyable throughout. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine