Like any record company worth their salt,
MCA
knows a good gimmick when they see it, and when the millennium came around, the
20th Century Masters -- The Millennium Collection
wasn't too far behind. Supposedly, the millennium is a momentous occasion, but it's hard to feel that way when it's used as another excuse to turn out a budget-line series. But apart from the presumptuous title,
turns out to be a very good budget-line series. True, it's impossible for any of these ten-track collections to be definitive, but they're nevertheless solid samplers that don't feature a bad song in the bunch. For example, take
Loretta Lynn
's
20th Century
volume. Yes, there are some great songs missing, but what's here is terrific, including
"Coal Miner's Daughter,"
"You Ain't Woman Enough,"
"Lead Me On,"
"Don't Come Home a Drinkin' (With Lovin' on Your Mind),"
"Louisiana Woman, Mississippi Man,"
and
"Blue Kentucky Girl."
Serious fans will want something more extensive and neophytes would be best-served by better-chosen collections, but this disc is quite entertaining, considering its length and price. That doesn't erase the ridiculousness of the series title, but the silliness is excusable when the music and the collections are good. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine