Very Best Of Dwight Yoakam CD

Personnel: Dwight Yoakam (vocals, guitar); Buck Owens (vocals).
Liner Note Author: Holly George-Warren.
Photographer: Davis Factor.
Take a look at the title of Rhino's 2004 Dwight Yoakam collection -- this is The Very Best of Dwight Yoakam, not The Greatest Hits, which means that there are several hit singles missing. Actually, there are a grand total of 20 charting singles missing, the exact length of The Very Best Of and certainly more than can be winnowed down to a single-disc overview of his biggest hits. Inevitably, cuts had to be made, and the decision was made to span his entire career, coming at the expense at some of his earlier, bigger hits, which means this may not appeal as much to listeners who are familiar with Dwight from the time he had a steady string of singles in the country Top Ten. Instead, this collection skews toward a crossover audience -- or, to be frank, rock guys who like Yoakam. In that regard, it's a success, giving a good idea of the range of his music, offering his biggest hits, along with popular countrified covers of "Suspicious Minds," "Crazy Little Thing Called Love," and "I Want You to Want Me." It could be argued convincingly that Just Lookin' for a Hit gives a better picture of Yoakam the hitmaker, but this is nevertheless a better portrait of his full career, and a better indication of what he wound up being: every alt-rocker's favorite neo-traditional country singer. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine
It's no coincidence that maverick country star Dwight Yoakam rose to prominence in Los Angeles during the 1980s, playing clubs with the likes of Los Lobos, X, and the Blasters. Yoakam's roots revivalism, which borrows equally from the Bakersfield honky-tonk of Buck Owens and vintage Sun Studios-era rockabilly, has much in common with a punk-inspired, back-to-basics approach. THE VERY BEST OF proves that despite--or maybe because of--Yoakam's category defiance, his music is immensely appealing.
Yoakam's willingness to bend the rules is evident in his choice of covers. Included here are a punchy version of "Suspicious Minds," a countrified take on Cheap Trick's "I Want You to Want Me," and a swinging cover of Queen's "Crazy Little Thing Called Love." To these and other tunes, Yoakam brings his country-rock flair and his truly beautiful baritone croon. But nothing matches his late-'80s cuts, particularly the rave-up barroom classic "Honky Tonk Man" and Yoakam's own "Guitars, Cadillacs," standouts on this excellent collection representing one of country's coolest and most distinctive stars.Uncut (p.138) - 3 stars out of 5 - "Spiritual heir to Gram Parsons, Yoakam was a similarly-transplanted southerner who fetched up on Los Angeles, riding the tip of the early-'80s new country swell."
Dirty Linen (pp.51-2) - "[A] nifty set of recordings that Yoakam contributed over the years to tribute albums..."