Greatest Hits is the fourth compilation album released by American country

Country music

Country music is a popular American musical style that began in the rural Southern United States in the 1920s. It takes its roots from Western cowboy and folk music...

 artist Barbara Mandrell

Barbara Mandrell

Barbara Ann Mandrell is an American country music singer best known for a 1970s–1980s series of Top 10 hits and TV shows that helped her become one of country's most successful female vocalists of the 1970s and 1980s...

. The album was released in March 1985 on MCA Records

MCA Records

MCA Records was an American-based record company owned by MCA Inc., which later gave way to the larger MCA Music Entertainment Group , of which MCA Records was still part. MCA Records was absorbed by Geffen Records in 2003...

 and was produced by Tom Collins. The album was her first compilation for MCA Records.

Background and content

Greatest Hits consisted of ten tracks Barbara Mandrell had acquired as major hits between 1978 and 1985. It ranges from her second number one single in 1979, "If Loving You Is Wrong (I Don't Want to Be Right)" to 1984's "Happy Birthday Dear Heartache". It also included three additional number one singles by Mandrell: "Years

Years (song)

"Years" is the title of a song written by Kye Fleming and Dennis Morgan and recorded by Barbara Mandrell. The song would be Barbara Mandrell third number one on the country chart...

", "I Was Country When Country Wasn't Cool

I Was Country When Country Wasn't Cool

"I Was Country When Country Wasn't Cool" is the title of a song written by Kye Fleming and Dennis Morgan. It was recorded by American country artist Barbara Mandrell as a live version for her 1981 live album, Barbara Mandrell Live. It was released in April 1981 as lead single from the live album...

", and "One of a Kind Pair of Fools". Dan Cooper of Allmusic gave the album four out of five stars but also gave a negative opinion about her musical style, saying, "Hank Williams definitely didn't do it this way. Nevertheless, "I Was Country When Country Wasn't Cool" summed up a lot of folks' feelings as the Travolta

John Travolta

John Joseph Travolta is an American actor, dancer and singer. Travolta first became known in the 1970s, after appearing on the television series Welcome Back, Kotter and starring in the box office successes Saturday Night Fever and Grease...

 crowd tried to claim him as their own." The album also included the new track entitled, "There's No Love in Tennessee", which would eventually be released as the album's lead single.

Release

Greatest Hits spawned one single, "There's No Love in Tennessee". The song became a Top 10 hit in 1985, peaking at #7 on the Billboard Magazine Hot Country Singles & Tracks chart and also peaked at #24 on the Canadian RPM

RPM (magazine)

RPM was a Canadian music industry publication that featured song and album charts for Canada. The publication was founded by Walt Grealis in February 1964, supported through its existence by record label owner Stan Klees. RPM ceased publication in November 2000.RPM stood for "Records, Promotion,...

Country Tracks chart. The album itself peaked at #27 on the Billboard Magazine Top Country Albums chart and missed the Billboard 200

Billboard 200

The Billboard 200 is a ranking of the 200 highest-selling music albums and EPs in the United States, published weekly by Billboard magazine. It is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists...

 albums chart, reaching #210 that year. Greatest Hits was originally released on an LP album

LP album

The LP, or long-playing microgroove record, is a format for phonograph records, an analog sound storage medium. Introduced by Columbia Records in 1948, it was soon adopted as a new standard by the entire record industry...

 upon its original release in 1985, with five songs on each of the record. The album was later reissued on a compact disc

Compact Disc

The Compact Disc is an optical disc used to store digital data. It was originally developed to store and playback sound recordings exclusively, but later expanded to encompass data storage , write-once audio and data storage , rewritable media , Video Compact Discs , Super Video Compact Discs ,...

 also under MCA.

Track listing

Side one

1. "I Was Country When Country Wasn't Cool
   I Was Country When Country Wasn't Cool
   "I Was Country When Country Wasn't Cool" is the title of a song written by Kye Fleming and Dennis Morgan. It was recorded by American country artist Barbara Mandrell as a live version for her 1981 live album, Barbara Mandrell Live. It was released in April 1981 as lead single from the live album...
   
   " – (Kyle Fleming, Dennis Morgan
   Dennis Morgan (songwriter)
   Dennis Morgan is a songwriter and music publisher, best known for writing songs for Aretha Franklin, Faith Hill, Barbara Mandrell, and Eric Clapton. He has also published hit songs by Garth Brooks, All-4-One, Feargal Sharkey, and Trisha Yearwood.Morgan's career as a songwriter started as a session...
   
   ) 3:40
2. "Years
   Years (song)
   "Years" is the title of a song written by Kye Fleming and Dennis Morgan and recorded by Barbara Mandrell. The song would be Barbara Mandrell third number one on the country chart...
   
   " – (Fleming, Morgan) 3:54
3. "Wish You Were Here" – (Fleming, Morgan) 2:53
4. "The Best of Strangers" – (Fleming, Morgan) 3:53
5. "Happy Birthday Dear Heartache" – (Mack David
   Mack David
   Mack David was an American lyricist and songwriter, best known for his work in film and television, with a career spanning from the early 1940s through the early 1970s. Mack was credited with writing lyrics and/or music for over one thousand songs...
   
   , Archie Jordan) 2:34

Side two

1. "If Loving You Is Wrong (I Don't Want to Be Right)" – (Homer Banks
   Homer Banks
   Homer Banks was an African-American songwriter, singer and record producer, best known for his songs for Stax Records in the 1960s and 1970s...
   
   , Carl Hampton, Raymond Jackson) 3:07
2. "Crackers" – (Fleming, Morgan) 2:34
3. "One of a Kind A Pair of Fools" – (R.C. Bannon, John Bettis
   John Bettis
   John Bettis is an American lyricist who has co-written many famous popular songs over the years. In 2011, John was inducted into both the Songwriters Hall of Fame as well as the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame....
   
   ) 2:49
4. "In Times Like These" – (Fleming, Morgan) 2:58
5. "There's No Love in Tennessee" – (Steve Davis, Morgan) 3:28

Sales chart positions

Album

Chart (1985)	Peak position
U.S. Top Country Albums	27
U.S. Billboard 200 Billboard 200 The Billboard 200 is a ranking of the 200 highest-selling music albums and EPs in the United States, published weekly by Billboard magazine. It is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists...	210

Singles

Year	Song	Chart positions
		US Country Hot Country Songs Hot Country Songs is a chart published weekly by Billboard magazine in the United States.This 60-position chart lists the most popular country music songs, calculated weekly mostly by airplay and occasionally commercial sales...	CAN Country
1985	"There's No Love in Tennessee"	7	24