Rosanne Cash was one of the most popular female country artists of the eighties, but with a decent number of hits already under her belt, she relinquished her slot on country radio in exchange for full creative freedom. The Essential Rosanne Cash - released thirty years after her career hit "Seven Year Ache" reached number one - is an in-depth career-spanning compilation featuring 36 songs hand-selected by Rosanne herself.
This album is a double-disc set in which each disc covers a different era in Rosanne's career. Disc 1 begins with one track ("Can I Still Believe In You") from Rosanne's little-known self-titled debut album, released on German label Ariola. From there, this disc goes into all of Rosanne's best-known radio hits, as well as some lesser-known inclusions, all arranged in loose chronological order. Essential hits such as "Seven Year Ache," "My Baby Thinks He's a Train," "Blue Moon with Heartache," and her Grammy-winner "I Don't Know Why You Don't Want Me" are all present and accounted for. After we hear a fair amount of the synth-laden sound of the eighties, the disc segues into the mainstream country sound of her album King's Record Shop. That classic set yielded four number-one singles - a feat unprecedented by any female artist at the time - all of which are included in this compilation ("The Way We Make a Broken Heart," "Tennessee Flat Top Box," "If You Ever Change Your Mind," "Runaway Train"). The first disc closes with Rosanne's final number-one hit, her country-tinged cover of the Beatles' "I Don't Want to Spoil the Party," signaling the end of Rosanne's hit-making era.
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