Track Listing

Disc 1:

1. Five O'Clock 500 - (previously unreleased)
2. Keepin' Up - (previously unreleased)
3. How Do You Fall In Love - (previously unreleased)
4. Tennessee River
5. Why Lady Why
6. Old Flame
7. Feels So Right
8. Love In The First Degree
9. Mountain Music
10. Take Me Down
11. Close Enough to Perfect
12. Dixieland Delight
13. The Closer You Get
14. Lady Down On Love
15. Roll On (Eighteen Wheeler)
16. When We Make Love
17. If Your Gonna Play In Texas (You Gotta Have A Fiddle In The Band)
18. (There's A) Fire In The Night
19. There's No Way
20. Forty Hour Week (For A Livin')
21. Can't Keep A Good Man Down
22. She And I

Disc 2:

1. Touch Me When We're Dancing
2. You've Got The Touch
3. Face To Face
4. Fallin' Again
5. Song Of The South
6. If I Had You
7. High Cotton
8. Southern Star
9. Jukebox In My Mind
10. Forever's As Far As I'll Go
11. Down Home
12. Here We Are
13. Then Again
14. Born Country
15. I'm In A Hurry (And Don't Know Why)
16. Once Upon A Lifetime
17. Hometown Honeymoon
18. Reckless
19. Give Me One More Shot
20. She Ain't Your Ordinary Girl
21. In Pictures
22. Sad Lookin' Moon

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #11653 in Music
• Released on: 1998-08-25
• Number of discs: 2

Amazon.com
Alabama epitomizes the term people's band. Never a critics' favorite, the quartet from Fort Payne, Alabama, presents slick, sentimental songs that unerringly catch the ear of fans yet mystify those who don't hear the appeal. This two-CD career retrospective, which presents all 41 of the group's No. 1 hits, underlines just how successful they've been. The strengths are there: Randy Owen's clear, deep, intimate vocals; the focus on accessible melodies and musical hooks; and the straightforward song sense that plainly celebrates love, family, and home with all the simplicity of homilies stitched into a framed kitchen doily. Some might argue about Alabama's artistic value, but the band's 18-year track record offers a convincing retort. --Michael McCall

USA Today
Only a blindly devoted fan would believe there couldn't be a better Alabama compilation, though few could argue for a more comprehensive one.

Customer Reviews

Disc #1 better than Disc #2, but this is still a great Alabama retrospective
For The Record(called Essential Alabama in its most recent incarnation) is a collection of Alabama's #1 hits. The members of Alabama(lead singer/guitarist Randy Owen, lead guitarist Jeff Cook, bass player Teddy Gentry, and drummer Mark Herndon) paid their dues for years before finally hitting it big in 1980. Indeed, Alabama made history, being the first country band to make a big splash on the music charts. I was a fan of Alabama back in the early '80s, and although this collection includes only the band's #1 songs, it still is a great record.

Disc #1 is the stronger of this record's two discs. "Tennessee River", with its awesome fiddle work, was Alabama's first #1 song back in 1980. "Mountain Music"(Alabama's signature song), "Dixieland Delight", "Take Me Down", "The Closer You Get", "Roll On", "If You're Gonna Play In Texas", "Fire In The Night", "You Can't Keep A Good Man Down" and "She And I" are also great uptempo numbers. The classic ballads "Why Lady Why", "Old Flame", "Feels So Right", "Close Enough To Perfect", "Lady Down On Love", "When We Make Love", and "There's No Way" are among Alabama's best. Alabama's newer songs, the workaholic anthems "Five O'Clock 500" and "Keepin' Up" and the romantic ballad "How Do You Fall In Love", are also very good songs.

However, I don't like Disc #2 as well as Disc #1. Alabama starts off the disc well, but I think some of the band's later upbeat numbers are kind of goofy. The Southern anthems "Song Of The South" and "Southern Star", along with the traditional-sounding "High Cotton", "Jukebox In My Mind", "Down Home", and "Born Country", rank up there with Alabama's early '80s songs. However, this record's second disc also includes "I'm In A Hurry", "Hometown Honeymoon", and "She Ain't Your Ordinary Girl", which to me border on the slap-happy. To Alabama's credit, "Reckless", "Sad Lookin' Moon", and "Give Me One More Shot" are solid uptempo numbers. They're well-done and well-written. As on the first disc, Alabama also has some excellent ballads: "You've Got The Touch", "Face To Face", "If I Had You", "Forever's As Far As I Go", "Then Again", "Once Upon A Lifetime", and "In Pictures". The latter song, where the man is looking at pictures of his daughter that his ex-wife sends him, is a haunting portrait of how time gets away from us.

The guys in Alabama were country music hitmakers throughout the '80s and '90s. Although Alabama's later music wasn't as good as their early hits, they have built a solid musical legacy. For The Record is a solid collection of chart-toppers from this legendary group.

Great!!!
Is Great seeing Alabama going the Christian Music way it so neat seeing Country Artist going the way to Christian Music! I do like this Album

Great addition to your country music collection
This CD is a great addition to anyone's country music collection.
Not only does this Cd contain 41 number one songs for the group at the time it was released but some of the new songs that were put on the album eventually also were big hits.
Whether you are a big Alabama fan or just love country music you will love this CD.