| John Denver's Greatest Hits | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Greatest hits album by | ||||
| Released | November 1973 | |||
| Recorded | 1971–1973 | |||
| Genre | ||||
| Length | 39:36 | |||
| Label | RCA Victor | |||
| Producer | Milton Okun | |||
| John Denver chronology | ||||
| ||||
| Singles from John Denver's Greatest Hits | ||||
| ||||
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |   [1] |
| Christgau's Record Guide | B−[2] |
| Rolling Stone Record Guide |  [3] |
John Denver's Greatest Hits is the firstgreatest hits album by American singer-songwriterJohn Denver, released in November 1973 byRCA Records. A version known asThe Best of John Denver with the same track listing[4] was released in some countries.
The collection included material from his earlier days as a songwriter (going back to 1965 on "For Bobbie") to his later hit "Rocky Mountain High". By the time of its release, Denver had had only two top 40 hits. So many of the songs onGreatest Hits were not hits per se, but asStephen Thomas Erlewine wrote forAllmusic, "songs that defined him."
Greatest Hits is historically important because it contained new and reimagined recordings of several songs. Notable new versions included "Leaving on a Jet Plane", "Starwood in Aspen", "Follow Me", "Rhymes and Reasons", "The Eagle and the Hawk", "Sunshine on My Shoulders" and "Poems, Prayers, and Promises".
After its release these versions were used for airplay despite differing in subtle but important ways from the original versions; generally, they were more polished, featured a more mature-sounding Denver, included strings, and were extended somewhat.
Denver explained this in theliner notes by saying that he had picked the tunes most requested at his concerts, but that "I felt that some of these songs had grown a bit, that I am singing better than I was four or five years ago, and that I would like to treat some of the songs a little differently than I had in the original recordings."
Within a few months of release,Greatest Hits became Denver's first #1 on theBillboard 200 pop albums chart. It remains the best-selling album of his career in the United States, being certified 9×platinum by theRIAA.[5] The album was one of the first to sell over ten million copies worldwide. It spent 176 weeks on theBillboard 200[6] and 110 weeks on the Canadian RPM Top 100 chart.[7]
All tracks produced by Milton Okun; all tracks written by John Denver.
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Take Me Home, Country Roads" (fromPoems, Prayers & Promises, 1971) |
| 3:08 |
| 2. | "Follow Me" (new recording; fromTake Me to Tomorrow, 1970) | 2:56 | |
| 3. | "Starwood in Aspen" (new recording; fromAerie, 1971) | 3:10 | |
| 4. | "For Baby (For Bobbie)" (fromRocky Mountain High, 1972) | 2:58 | |
| 5. | "Rhymes and Reasons" (new recording; fromRhymes & Reasons, 1969) | 3:11 | |
| 6. | "Leaving on a Jet Plane" (new recording; fromRhymes & Reasons) | 4:00 | |
| Total length: | 19:23 | ||
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "The Eagle and the Hawk" (new recording; fromAerie) |
| 2:10 |
| 2. | "Sunshine on My Shoulders" (new recording; fromPoems, Prayers & Promises) |
| 5:10 |
| 3. | "Goodbye Again" (fromRocky Mountain High) | 3:36 | |
| 4. | "Poems, Prayers and Promises" (new recording; fromPoems, Prayers & Promises) | 4:34 | |
| 5. | "Rocky Mountain High" (fromRocky Mountain High) |
| 4:43 |
| Total length: | 20:13 | ||
Weekly charts[edit]
| Year-end charts[edit]
|
| Region | Certification | Certified units/sales |
|---|---|---|
| Australia (ARIA)[20] | Platinum | 70,000^ |
| Hong Kong (IFPI Hong Kong)[21] | Gold | 10,000* |
| United Kingdom (BPI)[22] | Silver | 60,000‡ |
| United States (RIAA)[23] | 9× Platinum | 9,000,000^ |
* Sales figures based on certification alone. | ||
For the newly recorded tracks:
