Well here it is, a spectacular boxset on Dolly Parton. A few medicore boxsets on Dolly have been released over the years, but they all pale in comparison to this beautiful gem. Featuring an informative sixty page booklet on Miss Parton with rare pictures never seen before, the crowning jewel are seven tracks never released from Dolly's various record labels. The newly released songs are "Gonna Hurry (As Slow As I Can) which is one of the first songs Dolly ever recorded back in the 1950's; "Nobody But You" recorded when Dolly was 16 years old on Mercury Records; "I've Known You All My Life" from Dolly's Monument period; "Everything's Beautiful (In It's Own Way) that was originally recorded for "The Fairest of Them All" album in 1969; "God's Coloring Book" recorded during the "Coat of Many Colors" 1971 sessions; and finally "Eugene Oregon" and "What Will Baby Be" from 1972's "My Tennessee Mountain Home" album recordings. Out of these seven wonderful tracks four are really standouts; "Gonna Hurry" is true Dolly and she proves even at 10 years of age not only would she be a huge country music star, but a pop superstar. Her voice is pure, strong, original and unmistakingly Dolly. "Everything's Beautiful" is a song Dolly wrote before she came to Nashville and it is truely one of the most beautiful songs she has ever written. It was the song Dolly sang to Porter Wagoner the very day he called her to his office in 1967 to hire her as his "girl singer" on his TV and road show. "God's Coloring Book", that was later recorded for Dolly's 1977 "Here You Come Again" album, is far superior than the remake. You can hear a lot of the "Coat of Many Colors" sound and Dolly's vocal is impeccable and crystle pure. Lastly, "Eugene Oregon" has a neat tempo and is similar in vocal style to the rest of her "My Tennessee Mountain Home" recordings. Another great part about this boxset are the hardly heard singles and B-Sides that have rarely been released on CD over the years, most notably "Puppy Love", "It's Sure Gonna Hurt" and its B-Side "The Love You Gave", and the beautiful "Put It Off Until Tomorrow", which is actually a Bill Phillip's recording, but features Dolly doing background vocals uncredited. This particular recording is one of the most important Dolly recordings ever as it would persuade Dolly's then record label Monument, at Dolly's insistence, to record her country. Porter Wagoner would eventually discover her from her country oriented recordings on Monument and the rest is history. All of Dolly's huge hits are available here including "9 to 5", "I Will Always love You", "Jolene", "Joshua", "Heartbreaker", "Islands In The Stream", and many more. 11 Porter/Dolly duet hits are also included. This set is for the ardent Dolly fan who needs to have this boxset to complete their Dolly collection even if you have all her CD's and albums. This set is also a great place to start your Dolly collection as you will not find a more comprehensive packaging of her material anywhere. Four CD's with 99 songs and a beautiful career book included. We Dolly fans are finally in Heaven! This "Dolly" boxset sold enough copies to debut on the country album chart at #59.

"Porter and Dolly" marks the very first CD release of an original album by Porter Wagoner and Dolly Parton in North America. Their very first LP "Just Between You and Me" was released in 1995 in Europe on CD and there have been various compilation CD's distributed, but RCA Records has been extremely slow in releasing any of the duos famous albums. Minnie Pearl once called Porter and Dolly the greatest man/woman singing team in the history of country music. This CD shows why!

"Porter and Dolly" has quite a history as an LP. It was the last album the duo ever released in 1980 long after their partnership was over. It was originally to have been put out in 1976, but Dolly's new management team headed by Sandy Gallin convinced RCA to shelve the duet album, citing that its release would hamper the growth of Dolly's new solo career. This didn't sit too well with Porter who would go on to lose royalties as a singer, songwriter, and producer of the album. In 1979 Porter sued Dolly for 3 million dollars citing breach of contract and of blocking the release of this very album. After settling out of court for 1 million dollars, in which Dolly nearly ended up broke, the "Porter and Dolly" album was released. The album shot all the way to number 9 and had 2 singles released; "Making Plans" hit number 2 and "If You Go I'll Follow You" went to number 12, indicating the fans still loved their Porter and Dolly. The album is quite good. Featuring 10 tracks the standout is the second single. Dolly's girlish voice blends perfectly with Porter's manly vocals and the song should have gone higher on the charts. All the songs were recorded prior to 1976 and the only song released before 1980 was "If You Say I Can", released as the B-Side to "Is Forever Longer Than Always" another top 10 single not included on the album release.

The album cover also features both Porter and Dolly photographed by 2 different photographers and their images were spliced together, since at that time the two were not talking. Happily they would rekindle their friendship in 1988. In my opinion all their albums were excellent and this ranks as one of their finest, and the fact that it finally has a home on CD makes me long to see more old Porter and Dolly LP's re-released on CD. On a final note the duos 1969 LP "Always, Always" and 1971's "Two of a Kind" will be released in February 2008 together on 1 CD. Look for that.

This season always features a crop of greatest hits, ultimate hits, box sets and special collections released by record companies in an attempt to bring in more cash during the holiday season. This set, simply titled 'Dolly' has been released without much fanfare or promotion which is really a shame because this is probably one of the best compilation and special career-spanning box collections released in a long while for a big artist like Dolly Parton. Let's get one thing straight; this is not a 'greatest hits' collection. Neither is it a 'definitive' collection. Yes, there are noticeably some big hits missing and the collection of songs ends with the early 1990s. Still, why is it worth buying? Well, first, it's reasonably priced and affordable. Through Amazon, for just a bit over $35.00 you are able to purchase 99 songs from Dolly Parton's career. Many of these tracks are from CDs that are either hard to find or out of print. This collection's songs are polished and sound better than ever, unlike most compilation sets that are lazily pieced together without a lot of thought or attention to the tracks. Not so with 'Dolly'. This is in many ways career-spanning in that it features tracks from many periods of Dolly Parton's life and career; from her first track "Puppy Love" through the Porter Wagner years; from her first solo efforts through her pop and disco years. Even though the box set neglects modern Parton whose done everything from bluegrass, cover songs of political songs to (most recently) classic country, this set doesn't at all feel unfinished or lacking. It packs a punch with over four and a half hours worth of Dolly Parton music. Yes, it includes some of her big hits like "I Will Always Love You", "Two Doors Down" and "9 to 5", but it also exposes the listener to a host of Dolly that gives you a complete sense of who she is as an artist and what makes her, as the sticker on the box boasts, a legend.

The Good: Again, the best part of this set is that it's reasonably price. The retail price is in the upper $40 range; still, you are getting 99 songs, a slim box that encases the discs and a well-produced 60+ page book that contains a short biography of Parton, covering her life and music. I felt the strength of this set was that it did not rely solely on her 'greatest hits' that have been released ten fold on previous releases. Instead, it gives the Dolly fan and basic music consumer access to music that is hard to find and even goes so far to make each track sound better than ever. 'Dolly' is more of a musical autobiography than it is a collection of hits; there's a chronological order to the music so you're taken from her almost unrecognizable child-like voice on "Puppy Love" through dozens of songs that showcase her strength and versatility as a music artist. This set also celebrates her career rather than focusing on one aspect or period; the music she did with Porter Wagner and early on in her career of course may not be as well-known by a younger audience as her hits "9 to 5" or "Islands in the Stream" duet with Kenny Rogers, but the older and lesser known tracks are featured alongside the popular tracks just the same. It's an enjoyable listening experience listening to Parton go from classic country to dabbling in pop/disco on tracks like "Baby I'm Burning". In all, the quality of this set really took me by surprise and it's a shame it's not being promoted more because if you're a Dolly Parton fan, or even a casual fan of hers, perhaps even just curious of her, this set was made and compiled with you in mind. It's got something for everyone and does not let you down.

The Bad: After reading the 60+ page booklet that comes with the set, it was clear to me that this was not meant to be a greatest hits album. It's something of an autobiography or storyteller's edition. If you read the book and get the inside scoop on some of the tracks, you'll see the purpose of the 4 CD set is to reveal and follow Dolly Parton's rise to fame and popularity. That being said, if there was a flaw in the set it's that it comes a bit short of being a true career-spanning collection. It would have been made even better if it included tracks from the mid 1990s to today. Not including Parton's bluegrass era, or even her work on releases like 'Hungry Again', 'Those Were Days' or 'Backwoods Barbie' leaves something of an unfinished picture of the artist. It gives the impression to the unknowing listener or Dolly fan that after 1990, she hasn't done much worth acknowledging or celebrating. The entire vibe of 'Dolly' feels as if it's celebrating Dolly Parton and her great accomplishments and versatility as an artist. In a way, I wish there had been a subtitle acknowledging that this was not covering her entire career. Also, it would have been nice if there was some sort of video component included with this set. A DVD with her A&E biography would have been fitting; interviews or clips from other artists and professionals speaking of Parton, even music videos or clips of live performances (especially of her years with Porter Wagner) would have made this a truly well-rounded release. Still, it's a minor complaint and doesn't detract from the great quality of work put into the final product.

In all, this is a must buy. With the collection of songs, including un-released tracks, 'Dolly' is a must-have and worth every penny. While it is not entirely career-spanning, the 99 tracks and accompanying mini-booklet definitely covers the early years through the early 90s of Parton's life and career and makes a great case for why she's a legend. Definitely worth buying.

The history of this album has been told many times before, it was blocked, it was shelved, when it was finally released in 1980 it stood out as somewhat of an oddity among Dolly's other albums at the time. She had just released a string of pop crossover albums and "Porter & Dolly" recalled her sound that she had left behind five years previously. The album isn't bad at all, but at the time of it's release it had a dated sound just because Dolly had changed her overall sound so much. Listening to the album again 29 years later, it holds up well and fits in nicely with the other Porter and Dolly albums.

My only complaint about this album is the inclusion of the Johnny Russell song, "Making Plans" which has always sounded weird as a duet. In the song both parties are saying how they can't believe the other is leaving and how hard it will be go on without each other. Well, if you both feel this way, why are you "making plans to leave"??? Great song, just doesn't work as a duet. Johnny Russell's original recording is a much better version.

Very slowly Dolly's back catalog is getting released on CD, something that is long overdue, as is a comprehensive boxed set covering her RCA years.

This lady will never let you down when singing. This was a great team & this one is a real joy to listen to over and over.