Buck Owens - All-Time Greatest Hits (2010)

Arriving four years after Rhino’s 21 # Hits: The Ultimate Collection, Time Life’s 20-track All-Time Greatest Hits covers much of the same territory. The compilations share 14 tracks, which makes sense because those 14 songs are the core of Buck’s canon -- “Act Naturally,” “Love’s Gonna Live Here,” “Streets of Bakersfield,” “Waitin’ in Your Welfare Line,” “Sam’s Place,” “I’ve Got a Tiger by The Tail” -- and it’s hard to imagine a hits collection without them. This means the difference between the two discs is at the margins; the Rhino set winds up including more of Buck’s interesting detours, such as the fuzz-colored “Who’s Gonna Mow Your Grass” or galloping cover of “Johnny B. Goode,” whereas this digs deeper into pure country, adding the classic “Cryin’ Time” and “Close Up the Honky Tonks.” Neither one is better than the other -- both are terrific samplers of Buck Owens & the Buckaroos at their peak, both are great introductions to one of the great bands of country music, both are tremendously entertaining, and picking one over another is just a matter of taste, availability, and price.