This compilations is kind of an oddity because Denver only had three hits at the time of its release. Though this is one of the biggest selling records of John Denver's career. Released in 1973 after the massive success of the "Poems, Prayers and Promises" and "Rocky Mountain High," albums, this compilation gathers songs from 1969 up to 1973. His record company wanted him to release this album and Denver agreed on the condition that he could showcase and re-record some of his lesser known songs from his early albums. That became kind of common for compilations in the 1970s where an artist would re-record their earlier songs, Gordon Lightfoot did the same thing on "Gord's Gold.""Rhymes & Reasons," "The Eagle and the Hawk," "Leaving on a Jet Plane" and "Starwood in Aspen" are all re-recorded most are not drastically different, faster pace or different guitar picking, "Eagle and the Hawk" adds an entire string section to the song though. Actually because of their inclusion on this compilation many of the unknown songs became hits as well.
When RCA/Legacy released this on CD in 2005 they added three fine songs "I Guess He'd Rather Be in Colorado," "Daydreams" and "Friends with You." I purchased this CD because the sticker on the cover stated there were new extensive liner notes for the 2005 release. I thought, great there is some kind of booklet with an essay about the album or John Denver or Both. In reality there aren't really any liner notes. There is the little paragraph written by Denver himself (that was on the original LP) and then each song has a listing of the musicians that played on it. That is about it. This is still a fine compilation and really showcases Denver's Folk/Country/Pop prowess. This is the kind of music that makes me feel warm inside and that is nice feeling.
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