Tammy Wynette

Tammy Wynette was over halfway through her first decade as a solo artist when she experienced her fourteenth solo number 1, Another Lonely Song in 1974. The title track of her Billy Sherrill produced album, it helped catapult the record to number 8 in the album charts. Just a few months later, she teamed up with Sherrill once again for it's follow-up, the slightly less successful Woman To Woman, which only reached 22 in the charts. With the two abums now re-released together as part of Morello Records celebration of the late Queen of Country's back catalogue, do the two albums stand the test of time?

While the records do not host any of the songs that have now become celebrated as signature Tammy hits, they are still worthy of a revisit. It was at this stage in her career that Tammy really started to redefine and reshape her artistry and grew away from the early anthems D-I-V-O-R-C-E and Stand By Your Man, into a softer, but equally emotional and passionate performer.

Although both the title tracks from the two albums proved charts hits, with Woman To Woman made famous once again by The Judds, they are actually far from the strongest cuts on the collection.

Although something of a country standard, Satin Sheets, which had been initially released by Jeanne Pruett just a year previously, is delivered flawlessly by Tammy. With the direct approach of her earlier hits, Satin Sheets allows Tammy's balance of naughty and nice to shine through. However it is in the tenderness of Help Me Make It Through The Night and longing I've Been Loved Before (But Not Like This) that steal the show.

The double album collection is unlikely to convert non-Tammy fans, but for those who love her will enjoy this trip into these two beautifully delivered records.