Track Listing

1. California Nights
2. Windy
3. Switchin'
4. I Say a Little Prayer for You
5. Yesterday
6. Pata Pata
7. Wind Song
8. Butterfly
9. Georgia on My Mind
10. Hello, Young Lovers
11. Fly Me to the Moon
12. Road Song
13. Day in the Life
14. Down Here on the Ground
15. When a Man Loves a Woman
16. Eleanor Rigby
17. Where Have All the Flowers Gone?
18. Know It All (Quem Diz Que Sabe)
19. My Favorite Things
20. Scarborough Fair/Canticle

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #23797 in Music
• Released on: 1996-05-07
• Number of discs: 1
• Format: Original recording remastered
• Dimensions: .20 pounds

Customer Reviews

The bonus tracks make this one worthwhile
When Wes Montgomery's GREATEST HITS was released as A&M SP 4247 on vinyl in 1970, it contained only 10 tracks. It was expanded to a 20-song set with the CD release of CLASSICS in 1987. This remastered GREATEST HITS contains the same tracks as CLASSICS. Fifteen of the tunes come from Wes' three A&M albums, A DAY IN THE LIFE, DOWN HERE ON THE GROUND and ROAD SONG. There are 5 titles not featured on these albums: "Pata Pata," "Butterfly," "Hello Young Lovers," "My Favorite Things" and "Switchin." Because these songs demonstrate Wes' improvisational talents, this set is worth having even if you already own the other 3 albums.

Wes' "Greatest Hits"? - well, yes, "hits"..
It is nice to see people digging Wes - no matter what the venue. Popular songs made Wes accessable to a larger audience, and it made him some well deserved bread in the process. His style became defined (some might say diluted as well) and, much like with Antonio Carlos Jobim, the style that was boiled down from this genius CREATED the genre now known as "elevator/dentist office music". That said, it doesn't mean his 'greatest hits' is his greatest work. It emphatically is not...in my opinion. If you dig this CD you may or may not dig "Smokin' at the Half Note", or "Boss Guitar". But I'll bet you will, and you owe it to yourself and to Wes to check them out along with his debut LP entitled "The Incredible Jazz Guitar of Wes Montgomery". All in all, again, I love to see people loving Wes Montgomery under any and all banners - be they 'pop hits' or jazz classics.

Fat juicy guitar playin'
I finally bought this album the other day because after hearing so much from fellow guitar players about Wes' style. I can't believe I haven't picked this up before now! These tracks are mostly pop standards, and while the musicianship is top notch, it makes me hunger to hear his live material, if only to listen to his improvisational skills.

At times it can sound dangerously close to elevator music, but there is little to be done about that. Its tragic that his life was so short, that he couldn't be allowed to go in whatever direction he wanted.

All in all, this is serves me as a great introduction to his work, and will push me into buying more.