 List Price: $74.98
Lowest Price: $46.48 
Album Details: Includes Four CD and One Dvd (Pal Format) Amazon.com: Emmylou Harris, godmother of the Americana movement, is a phenomenon for any number of reasons, one of which is that she has has managed to conduct more than four decades of her remarkable career without a single misstep. While Harris has always been committed to honoring the roots of old-school, traditional country, she also expanded the music beyond its conservative lyrics and narrow melodic structures without abandoning its core themes of enduring love, family, and prideful sense of place. Throughout, she interpreted and wrote songs of integrity and emotional depth and resonance, surrounding her keening soprano with a Who's Who of players and collaborators, including Rodney Crowell, the McGarrigle Sisters, Dolly Parton, Linda Ronstadt, Daniel Lanois, and Mark Knopfler. This unusual 4-CD compilation isn't a greatest-hits package, but rather a gathering of Harris's personal favorites, most of which have never appeared on other collections. Some of the most compelling tracks are special collaborations ("Jordan," with Willie Nelson and Johnny Cash), previously unreleased live, studio, and demo tracks (the folky "Falling in a Deep Hole," circa 1970), and contributions to tribute projects (Townes Van Zandt's chilling "Snake Song"). Harris's reedy voice is one of the most empathetic instruments in all of popular music, and perhaps no other female performer of the genre has been able to capture the desperate, paralyzing sense of longing and loneliness as well as this greatly revered singer. That may be a red flag of warning for the Prozac generation, but this deeply satisfying set stands as a benchmark of 40 years of artistry, as well as an uncommonly soulful illumination of the human condition. --Alanna Nash Customer Reviews: Rating: 
Date: 2008-07-08
A MUSICAL CELEBRATION OF A LEGEND
What a awesome collection! I agree with the other reviewers who have complained about the poor packaging but as far as Emmylou Harris there is absolutely nothing poor or lacking! All of her hits from "Pieces of the Sky" to "Red Dirt Girl" are represented on this special collection as well as songs from special projects and live performances. This is a ABSOLUTE must for any Emmylou Harris fan. Do not let the negative comments about the packaging keep you from purchasing this great collection. Also, check out Emmy's new album, "All I Intended to Be"--another *****album! Rating:
Date: 2008-06-24
EmmyLou: Always Great!
If you love EmmyLou's great voice, then this collection is a "must own". Each disc is as great as the next. I get very tired of an artist when I try to listen to all three or four discs of a box set at one sitting. Not this compilation---kept my interest through all four discs in a row. Played all four again, and then once more the following day---I've never tried that before, and I do own some great box sets---Ray Charles, Rod Stewart, Johnny Cash, Buck Owens, Jefferson Airplane, Moody Blues, even the Stones---but they all tend to get a bit "long in the tooth" after awhile. EmmyLou manages to stay fresh the whole time.
Now, as for the packaging that eveyone is complaining about---I was prepared for the worst! However, disc three is the only one that is nearly impossible to deal with. I got the other three out relatively easy, but had to commit a very grievous sin---had to pull them out with my thumb and forefinger---a total "no-no", self-imposed because of my "obsessive-compulsive" audiophile tendencies. I absolutely loathe touching any part of my cd's except for the rims. Fingerprints on cd's---they just don't belong there---don't look good, don't sound good either.
So, I won't be listeneing to cd # 3 very often! But, hey, there's three other great ones to enjoy. EmmyLou picked all of these songs out herself, and you can tell---she did a superb job---you might even say that she knows her own music better than any producer ever could. And to end with a quote from Forest Gump, "that's all I have to say about that". Rating:
Date: 2008-05-18
Forty years!
Thank you Amazon! You're right: it's not enough just buying the box, it's my duty to tell the world what I think about it.
What can I say, it feels like it was only yesterday I bought my first Emmy-Lou Harris album and lo and behold! reading the booklet I'm informed it was nearly forty years ago. She's been singing and I've been listening: three marriages ago - we've got that in common!
We have some more in common: we knew back then that Folk and Country would converge. Yessiree. Did I deserve all that scorn from my friends in those years 1970-75? I would say "Listen: this is good, it's Bobby Bare: Detroit City" or "Harper Valley PTA: Jeannie C. Riley, good stuff!" Nah! Red neck stuff, must be trash!
Who turned out to be right? Emmy-Lou and I! "Folk" is the people and the people are who they are. A bit on the schmaltzy side I concede. But when you think of it, "Silver dagger" and "Ode to Billy Joe", same thing.
So, some really nice pieces here among these forgotten gems and rare tracks. My favorites: the (gasp!) cheesy hymns. Yeah, I know, I'm old by now - she isn't though! - that happens to old folks you know!
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Date: 2008-04-23
Mesmerizing
As time goes by, I find myself drawn more and more to the music of Emmylou Harris. When I began listening to country music as a child, she was still having regular hits on the Billboard charts. I liked her music, but in those days would not have listed her as one of my favorite artists. Over the years that slowly began to change, and today she is definitely on a very short list of favorites. Whether this is case of my musical tastes maturing, or an unconscious rebellion against the increasingly pop-oriented music coming out of Nashville these days, I do not know, but I've been listening to a lot of Emmylou these days and decided that I had to add Songbird to my collection.
I don't buy many CDs anymore, opting instead to download MP3 files when I buy new music. This time I decided to go with the CDs because the digital version of this album has considerably fewer tracks -- at least 20 are not available as MP3s. I'm really glad that I went with the CDs, because this is beautifully packaged with a hardcover booklet that contains a biography of Emmylou and a track-by-track commentary. This is by far the nicest boxed set I've ever purchased. I was a little concerned when I read so many other reviews that complained that the discs were difficult to remove from their sleeves. I did not find that to be the case at all, so perhaps Rhino has addressed that problem since the set was originally released.
This is not a greatest hits package, but rather, as the title suggests, rare tracks culled from Emmylou's back catalog, and collaborations that originally appeared on other artists' albums. The absence of any big hits further illustrates the consistent quality of Emmylou's body of work. There was never any filler on her albums; there isn't a weak track on this set. Each one can hold its own against any of her more familiar radio hits. Thirteen tracks were previously unreleased. Among these are the real gems of the set -- the collaborations with Linda Ronstadt and Dolly Parton, which were recorded in the 1970s for the aborted Trio album that was never released due to complications with three artists who were under contract to three different record labels. (In 1987, the ladies finally got together in the studio and recorded the now classic "Trio" album). Other standout tracks are "Sonny", a collaboration with Ireland's Dolores Keane and Mary Black and the live version of "Prayer In Open D".
This is a must-have for any serious Emmylou fan, and even casual fans will find much to enjoy here. It makes a fine companion piece for the 2001 Anthology (The Warner-Reprise Years), which contains the big hits that are missing from Songbird. It's a fine collection from a true artist who, unlike so many others, has never compromised her artistic integrity in pursuit of greater commercial success. It is that kind of artistry that has earned Emmylou Harris widespread respect, and a well-deserved space in the Country Music Hall of Fame.
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Date: 2008-02-25
Emmylou on Emmylou
If you appeciate Emmylou Harris, then you'll appreciate this comprehensive retrospective which, she indicates in the book which accompanies the CDs, took her several years to compile. With so many tracks, clearly no one will like every song, but every Harris fan should appreciate the voice doing the song. This compilation is a "must have" for any Harris fan. |
