There has been no shortage of
Jim Reeves compilations over the years, ranging from cheap budget-line collections to Bear Family's absurdly comprehensive 16-CD set, Welcome to My World. In between those two extremes were 1993's double-disc Welcome to My World: The Essential Jim Reeves and 1995's single-disc
The Essential Jim Reeves, both of which covered the basics quite well, and 2000's double-disc German release The Singles, 1953 to 1960, an excellent distillation of his peak years. Despite the strengths of these releases, no set offered such a wide-ranging and complete overview as BMG Heritage's superb 2003 release,
Anthology. Spanning 40 tracks over two discs, the set begins with his first big hit, "Mexican Joe" in 1953, and ends with "Angels Don't Lie," which charted in 1970, six years after his tragic death in 1964.
Reeves had plenty of hits even after 1970 -- he appeared on the Billboard country charts regularly for 20 years after his death -- and he had so many during his lifetime that they can't all be condensed into a 40-track collection, but what makes
Anthology so good is its expert song selection. It picks both the biggest hits and greatest songs, making this both the best hits collection and summary of his career for those who want a thorough but not exhaustive overview of his work. Those other collections are excellent in different ways, but this is the one that should be in every country collection. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine