Great Country Songs

1	I Forgot to Remember to Forget 2:29
2	Blue Moon of Kentucky 2:03
3	When My Blue Moon Turns to Gold Again 2:21
4	Old Shep 4:10
5	Your Cheatin' Heart Alternate Take 9 2:43
6	(Now and Then There's) a Fool Such as I 2:38
7	Just Call Me Lonesome previously unreleased / Alternate Take 6 2:03
8	There Goes My Everything / The Imperials Quartet previously unreleased / Alternate Take 1 2:47
9	Kentucky Rain 3:15
10	From a Jack to a King 2:25
11	I'll Hold You in My Heart (Till I Can Hold You in My Arms) 4:33
12	I Really Don't Want to Know / The Imperials Quartet 2:45
13	It Keeps Right on A-Hurtin' 2:37
14	Green, Green Grass of Home / The Voice previously unreleased / Alternate Take 1 3:33
15	Fairytale / The Voice previously unreleased / Alternate Take 2 3:03
16	Gentle on My Mind 3:24
17	Make the World Go Away / The Imperials Quartet 3:36
18	You Asked Me To / The Voice 2:52
19	Funny How Time Slips Away / The Imperials Quartet 4:18
20	Help Me Make It Through the Night / The Imperials Quartet previously unreleased / Alternate Take 3 3:07
21	Susan When She Tried / The Voice 2:17
22	He'll Have to Go / Kathy Westmoreland 4:30
23	Always on My Mind / J.D. Sumner 3:38
24	Guitar Man Remake 2:49

Barnes & Noble

A reissue of a 1996 anthology, Great Country Songs is one of the top-drawer collections in the King's voluminous catalogue. For starters, the 24 songs illustrate Elvis's understanding of the shifting tides of country music. In a career that began with a fiery reimagining of Bill Monroe's "Blue Moon of Kentucky," Elvis proved himself at once a traditionalist and a progressive, balancing his love for the genre's rootsy side with a sure feel for the new generation's predilection for stylistic cross-pollination. The former is exemplified here not only by the Monroe song but also by Red Foley's "Old Shep," "When My Blue Moon Turns to Gold," Hank Williams's "Your Cheatin' Heart," and "(Now and Then) There's a Fool Such as I," popularized by Hank Snow. But Elvis's repertoire would grow to include songs such as Eddie Rabbitt's evocative "Kentucky Rain," "Green, Green Grass of Home" (by way of Tom Jones), John Hartford's "Gentle on My Mind," Kris Kristofferson's "Help Me Make It Through the Night," and "You Asked Me," a Waylon Jennings–Billy Joe Shaver co-write. Charles Wolfe's impeccable liner notes guide the listener through the history of the songs here (which include five previously unissued alternate takes), and the remastering makes them shine all the brighter. Of special note are the original version of "Always on My Mind," a hit for Elvis ten years before Willie Nelson found it, and his cover of the Jim Reeves hit "He'll Have to Go," recorded on October 30, 1976, at Elvis's final recording session, held in Graceland's Jungle Room. Solid and historically resonant, Great Country Songs is a fine tribute to an artist who mastered many styles but never strayed far from the sources of his original inspiration. David McGee

All Music Guide

Great Country Songs compiles 24 of the finest country songs Elvis Presley recorded between 1955 and 1976, from "I Forgot to Remember to Forget" to "Guitar Man." Many familiar performances are available, as are five previously unreleased tracks designed to bait collectors, and the collection does a good job of establishing Elvis' credentials as a country singer, even if it isn't as effective as the blues collection, Reconsider Baby. Stephen Thomas Erlewine