This collection - the strongest single Wynette disc available - contains twenty of her best solo singles - including all of those mentioned above - released between 1966 (her debut "Apartment # 9") and 1978 (the defiant "Womanhood"), the lone major omission from this period being her spinetingling "Another Lonely Song." Thus, none of her celebrated collaborations with George Jones (get their collection 16 Biggest Hits) or even David Houston (on "My Elusive Dreams") are found here, nor such latterday solo toe-tappers as 1979's "They Call It Making Love" and 1982's "Another Chance." Until an expanded single disc of Tammy's best comes along, the only place to get all of these recordings in one place is her box set Tears of Fire (which contains a lot of filler).

17 of 18 found the following review helpful:


Tammy you will be missed  Jul 03, 2002 By Corey
This is an awesome collection. However if you want the definitive collection go buy Tears of Fire. The only reason I bought this Tammy Wynette collection is because Tears of Fire didn't have my favoite song "Womanhood" on it and this one does. Tammy is very missed around the world by her millions of fans. Sometimes known as "The First Lady of Country Music" and also "The Queen of Heartache". She was called the latter because her voice often trembled and shook when she sang making her sound like she was about to cry. Also for the type of songs she wrote and sang. Of course I had heard Tammy's biggest hit "Stand By Your Man" before but the song that made me like her was a duet she sang with George Jones called "Golden Ring". If you really like Tammy Wynette or just want to pay tribute to her life and death, I urge you to buy this album. Thank You, A 14 year old boy named Corey Goodbye Tammy

13 of 13 found the following review helpful:


Well, there's that voice.  Jul 04, 1999
Tammy "I got my tears in my throat" Wynette has one of the greatest voices in country music history. What can you say about the woman who swallows parts of her words? But I love that voice, and this collection captures the best of the early parts and the most commercially era. What can one say about her classics like "Stand By Your Man" and "D-I-V-O-R-C-E" that hasn't been said before? Tammy is one of the important artists in country music and this captures most of her best hits from the early era. There will never be a voice like that again.

4 of 4 found the following review helpful:


Still One Of The Most Honest Sounds Going  Jun 20, 2009 By Gary F. Taylor "GFT"
I have never been particularly enthusiastic about country music and as a teenager during the 1970s I rejected it entirely. I held Tammy Wynette, whose last name I inevitably pronounced as "Whine-ette," in particular contempt. But over the years I've come to appreciate a number of key country music singers, and today I find Tammy Wynette among them.

It is widely assumed that Patsy Cline was a great star at the time of her 1963 death, but this is not quite the truth. Country music of the 1950s was pretty much a man's game, and while a great many recognized Cline's talents she was still often regarded as "the girl singer in the show." The first wave of major country music women came a bit later on in the 1960s, with Wynette among them.

Wynette's vocals were distinctly nasal and twangy but they also possessed a dreamy, romantic quality. Given the era and her blonde prettiness, this was a quality upon which her handlers quickly capitalized, and the result was a series of popular songs that could be best described as domestic drama weepers. In truth, Wynette's material was often second rate in terms of melody and lyrics--what distinguished them was Wynette herself. Her voice and the way she uses it is distinct, unique, unlike that of any other singer. She also possesses absolute honesty. There are no tricks, no glosses, no studio patch-ups, no pretense.

Wynette would build her career on sad songs about failed relationships, with "Til I Can Make It On My Own" probably her ultimate recording in the style. It is justly famous as an emotional punch recorded by a singer at the peak of her powers. But it is with more atypical material that her talents truly sparkle. Both then and now, "Stand By Your Man" has been criticized--unjustly, I think--as anti-feminist, but there's no getting around the fact that it is a showcase for Wynette's voice, beginning in a throw-away country style and then stretching to a belting finish that would have done any Broadway singer proud. Wynette could also turn out a knock-you-flat honky-tonk song when she wanted to, with the acidly funny "Your Good Girl's Gonna Go Bad" a memorable case in point.

TAMMY WYNETTE--20 GREATEST HITS leans hard on the singer's songs about wrecked marriages and failed love affairs; those were, after all, the songs that went over best with the public at the time, and certainly songs like "D-I-V-O-R-C-E" and "I Don't Want To Play House" are classics of their kind. All the same, it tends to short-change Wynette as a singer because it doesn't really show her range. Still, if you are looking for Wynette's standards, this is a reasonably good and inexpensive place to start.

GFT, Amazon Reviewer

6 of 7 found the following review helpful:


Simply the Best  Apr 06, 2007 By W. Reeves "ReevesBooks"
Man could this woman belt it.....country music knows what it's missing when it listens to this...it just don't get any better...Long Live Tammy!

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