Alan Jackson: Super Hits

iTunes Review

Super Hits is the kind of budget-line collection that you might find on cassette at a service station. In fact, you might call this brief compilation “Alan Jackson For Truckers.” It begins with the nocturnal optimism of “Chasin’ That Neon Rainbow” and continues through tunes about lonely hotel rooms (“Who Says You Can’t Have It All?”), flirtations with mysterious waitresses (“I Don’t Even Know Your Name”) and pride in the blue collar existence (“Workin’ Class Hero”). The collection ends with a rather obscure Jackson tune —“Must’ve Had a Ball”— that nonetheless epitomizes the ragged-but-resolute worldview of the singer. Sure, the track listing is short and the song selection is somewhat random, but these songs seem to belong together in a star-crossed sort of way. If nothing else, Super Hits shows that when you’re dealing with a catalogue as vast and consistent as Alan Jackson’s, you can pull together any nine songs and tell a lifetime story.