All Time Greatest Hits

by Roger Miller

Overview

There have been many collections of Roger Miller's hitmaking peak on Mercury over the years, but few have been as comprehensive or as good as Mercury/Chronicle's 2003 CD, All Time Greatest Hits. Spanning 20 tracks over the course of one CD, this contains all the big songs: "Dang Me," "Chug-a-Lug," "Do Wacka Do," "In the Summertime (You Don't Want My Love)," "King of the Road," "You Can't Roller Skate in a Buffalo Herd," "Kansas City Star," "England Swings," and "Husbands and Wives," among others. All but one track from the seminal 1965 collection Golden Hits is here ("Atta Boy Girl" is the missing culprit -- a good song but not enough to tip the scales in favor of the 38-year-old collection), and it spans further than that record, collecting hits from 1967-1970 and ending with the 1986 hit "River in the Rain." While that final song isn't quite of the standard of what preceded it, it provides a nice closer to a set of songs that unequivocally proves Miller's genius. That might seem like a weighty word for a singer/songwriter whose specialty was lightweight funny songs, but the thing is, those songs have a certain mad ingenious sensibility that nobody else could replicate, and he could dig deeper -- witness "I've Been a Long Time Leavin' (But I'll Be a Long Time Gone)" -- when he wanted to. That side might not be mined as deeply as it could have been here, but that's what previous comps like the King of the Road box is for. This is a hits collection, a summary overview and introduction to his genius, and it succeeds brilliantly on that level. Absolutely essential. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine

Product Details

Release Date:	04/22/2003
Label:	Mercury Nashville / Mercury
UPC:	0008817037523

Tracks

1. Dang Me
2. Chug-A-Lug
3. Do-Wacka-Do
4. In the Summertime
5. King of the Road
6. You Can't Roller Skate in a Buffalo Herd
7. Engine, Engine #9
8. One Dyin' and a Buryin'
9. Last Word in Lonesome Is Me
10. Kansas City Star
11. England Swings
12. Husbands and Wives
13. I've Been a Long Time Leavin'
14. Walkin' in the Sunshine
15. Little Green Apples
16. Me and Bobby McGee
17. Where Have All the Average People Gone
18. South
19. Tomorrow Night in Baltimore
20. River in the Rain

Album Credits

Performance Credits

Roger Miller   Primary Artist

Technical Credits

Les Leverett   Inlay Design
Bobby Russell   Composer
Kenny Price   Composer
Fred Foster   Composer
Roger Miller   Composer,Producer
Dennis Linde   Composer
Jerry Kennedy   Producer
Jimmy Bowen   Producer
Robyn Flans   Liner Notes
Suha Gur   Digital Remastering
Kris Kristofferson   Composer
Vartan   Art Direction
Ryan Null   Photo Research
Andy McKaie   Producer
Bob Russell   Composer
Adam Abrams   Production Coordination
Kelly Martinez   Licensing
Mike Fink   Design
Harry Goodwin   Photography
Scott Newton   Photography