Peter Morrison

Dolly Parton, performing here in Ireland in 2008, is the subject of an excellent new four-CD boxed set.

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"Dolly," Dolly Parton (RCA/Legacy)

It seems as if Dolly Parton is as much legend as a real human being. She's a classic American rags-to-riches story, a personality that's bigger than life - even when her hair isn't hampering air traffic. And while she's worked to become a sort of caricature, listen to her music and, most importantly, her songs, and you'll find a consummate artist.

The new four-CD boxed set "Dolly" captures Parton's career from 1959, when she was a chirping 13-year-old, to 1993, when Parton's music was becoming a rarity on country radio.

These four CDs follow Parton's journey. Her early recordings (her first single "Puppy Love") find her flirting with pop, followed by the girl group-sounding "Don't Drop Out," and the Carole King/Gerry Goffin number "I've Known You All My Life."

Peter Morrison

Dolly Parton, performing here in Ireland in 2008, is the subject of an excellent new four-CD boxed set.

Parton's talent is obvious (she was writing songs from the beginning), but it's halfway through the disc that Parton fully establishes herself as a power to be reckoned with. By disc two, which starts with 1969's "Just the Way I Am," Parton is recognized as both a musical partner with Porter Wagoner and a shining star in her own right.

Parton's strength as a songwriter is an ability to make new songs as timeless as Appalachian ballads. Her autobiographical "Coat of Many Colors," is easily one of the most touching and remarkable songs in the entire country music canon. And, her ballad "Jolene," which kicks off the third disc, might be directed toward some honky tonk harlot, but doubtless the scenario has surely been around since some Cro-Magnon lass felt her knuckle-dragging mate could be wooed by a girl with less hair on her back.

The set evidences that Parton was purely bubbling over with creativity during the 1960s and 1970s

The previously unreleased "Everything Is Beautiful (In Its Own Way)" is not the 1970 Ray Stevens hit, but a Parton original recorded in 1969. And, the previously unreleased "God's Coloring Book," "Eugene, Oregon" and "What Will Baby Be" are all fine tracks that could've been the highlight to any other artist's albums.

Part of the fun of "Dolly" is hearing Parton stretch her wings in the mid- and late-1970s. Her oft-covered "I Will Always Love You" is a sweet sendoff to her time with Wagoner and the "Light of a Clear Blue Morning" is an inspiring intro to Parton conquering pop as well as country, which she does fully on the poppy hit "Here You Come Again." While Parton's output becomes more spotty (with fewer original songs) from that point on, "Dolly" collects only the best.

Near the end of the fourth disc, Parton sings her own "Eagle When She Flies," recorded in 1990. It's just as terrific as her classics from the 1970s. It would be nice to have a disc focusing on Parton's excellent acoustic albums, and her under-appreciated work in the current decade. However, one listen to "Dolly" should erase any idea that Parton's big persona is hiding anything less than one of music's greatest artists.

"Space Oddity (40th Anniversary Edition)," David Bowie (Virgin)

When David Bowie became known in America in 1972 it was as a space alien named Ziggy Stardust. Yet, his career made him look like a time-traveler. While Bowie's 1972 album "The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars" was still catching on, RCA Records re-released Bowie's self-titled 1969 album (also issued as "Man of Words, Man of Music"), renamed it "Space Oddity" after the disc's opening track, and replaced the original cover with a current update of Bowie. Not long after the title track became Bowie's first American hit.

Good for Bowie that he spent a decade two or three steps ahead of his time. The acoustic-heavy album "Space Oddity" simply showed a folkier side of Ziggy Stardust. Despite the spooky title cut and "Unwashed and Somewhat Slightly Dazed," the album features Bowie in a more singer-songwriter mode and at his hippie-trippiest in "Wild Eyed Boy From Freecloud" and "Memory of a Free Festival." While "Space Oddity" isn't the classic that "Ziggy" is, or as adventurous and innovative of later albums in the 1970s, it has some terrific material and it's a good place to hear Bowie on the cusp of becoming one of rock's greats.

This remastered edition of the album includes a full second disc of rarities. The rarities include previously unreleased demos of "Space Oddity" and "An Occasional Dream," a 1970 stereo version of the B-side "Conversation Piece" and an Italian-language take on "Space Oddity." There's nothing that makes the bonus disc essential, but for diehards it's nice to have.

Wayne Bledsoe may be reached at 865-342-6444 or bledsoe@knews.com. He is also the host of "All Over the Road" midnight Saturdays to 4 a.m. Sundays on WDVX-FM.

© 2009, Knoxville News Sentinel
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