For the Record (Alabama album)

For the Record: 41 Number One Hits is a two-disc, 44-track greatest hits package released by the American country/Southern rock band Alabama.

For the Record: 41 Number One Hits
Greatest hits album by
ReleasedAugust 25, 1998
Recorded1998 (Disc 1, Tracks 1–3)
1980–1997 (other tracks)
Genre
Length2:33:04
LabelRCA Nashville
ProducerAlabama and Don Cook (Disc 1, Tracks 1–3)
Various original producers (other tracks)
Alabama chronology
The Essential Alabama
(1998)
For the Record: 41 Number One Hits
(1998)
Twentieth Century
(1999)
Singles from For the Record: 41 Number One Hits
  1. "How Do You Fall in Love"
    Released: August 1, 1998
  2. "Keepin' Up"
    Released: November 23, 1998
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[1]

The album chronicles the biggest hits from Alabama released from 1980 to 1998. The lineup includes all 33 of their Billboard magazine Hot Country Singles & Tracks No. 1 singles, as well as other songs which reached number one on the former Radio & Records (now Mediabase) charts; each of the non-Billboard No. 1 hits made the top 5 on that chart.

Three new tracks are also included. Of these, "How Do You Fall in Love" reached No. 2 on the Billboard Hot Country Singles & Tracks chart in late 1998. The follow-up single, "Keepin' Up", reached the Top 20 in early 1999, while "Five O'Clock 500" remained an album cut as it was not released as a single.

All of the greatest hits are presented in their single/radio edit forms. In some cases, the songs were nearly two minutes shorter than their original album versions.

The Essential

edit

For the Record was re-released and re-packaged in 2005 as The Essential. Both albums have an identical track lineup. In his review of The Essential, AllMusic reviewer Stephen Thomas Erlewine stated that the new album title eliminated "the misleading subtitle that claimed all of the songs on the album hit No. 1."[2] A disclaimer on the back of the album indicates that The Essential is the newly reissued For the Record.

Sales

edit

The original release of For the Record album was certified platinum for sales of 5 million units by the Recording Industry Association of America.[3]

Song listing

edit
Disc 1
  1. "Five O'Clock 500" (Teddy Gentry, Randy Owen, Ronnie Rogers) – 3:36A
  2. "Keepin' Up" (Greg Fowler, Gentry, Owen, Rogers) – 3:05A
  3. "How Do You Fall in Love" (Fowler, Gentry, Owen) – 3:00A
  4. "Tennessee River" (Owen) – 3:02
  5. "Why Lady Why" (Gentry, Rick Scott) – 3:09
  6. "Old Flame" (Donny Lowery, Mac McAnally) – 3:10
  7. "Feels So Right" (Owen) – 3:35
  8. "Love in the First Degree" (Tim DuBois, Jim Hurt) – 3:18
  9. "Mountain Music" (Owen) – 3:38
  10. "Take Me Down" (Mark Gray, J.P. Pennington) – 3:43
  11. "Close Enough to Perfect" (Carl Chambers) – 3:33
  12. "Dixieland Delight" (Rogers) – 3:56
  13. "The Closer You Get" (Gray, Pennington) – 3:37
  14. "Lady Down on Love" (Owen) – 3:57
  15. "Roll On (Eighteen Wheeler)" (Dave Loggins) – 3:43
  16. "When We Make Love" (Troy Seals, Mentor Williams) – 3:36
  17. "If You're Gonna Play in Texas (You Gotta Have a Fiddle in the Band)" (Murry Kellum, Dan Mitchell) – 3:22
  18. "(There's A) Fire in the Night" (Bob Corbin) – 3:57
  19. "There's No Way" (John Jarrard, Lisa Palas, Will Robinson) – 4:11
  20. "40 Hour Week (For a Livin')" (Loggins, Don Schlitz, Lisa Silver) – 3:18
  21. "Can't Keep a Good Man Down" (Corbin) – 3:39
  22. "She and I" (Loggins) – 3:34
Disc 2
  1. "Touch Me When We're Dancing" (Kenneth Bell, Terry Skinner, J.L. Wallace) – 3:41
  2. ""You've Got" the Touch" (Jarrard, Palas, Robinson) – 4:15
  3. "Face to Face" (Owen) – 3:00
  4. "Fallin' Again" (Fowler, Gentry, Owen) – 3:59
  5. "Song of the South" (Bob McDill) – 3:11
  6. "If I Had You" (Kerry Chater, Danny Mayo) – 3:33
  7. "High Cotton" (Scott Anders, Roger Murrah) – 3:00
  8. "Southern Star" (Rich Alves, Steve Dean, Murrah) – 3:08
  9. "Jukebox in My Mind" (Dave Gibson, Rogers) – 3:39
  10. "Forever's as Far as I'll Go" (Mike Reid) – 3:33
  11. "Down Home" (Rick Bowles, Josh Leo) – 3:27
  12. "Here We Are" (Beth Nielsen Chapman, Vince Gill) – 2:51
  13. "Then Again" (Bowles, Jeff Silbar) – 3:43
  14. "Born Country" (Byron Hill, John Schweers) – 3:19
  15. "I'm in a Hurry (And Don't Know Why)" (Murrah, Randy VanWarmer) – 2:48
  16. "Once Upon a Lifetime" (Gary Baker, Frank J. Myers) – 4:13
  17. "Hometown Honeymoon" (Leo, Jim Photoglo) – 3:18
  18. "Reckless" (Michael Clark, Jeff Stevens) – 3:19
  19. "Give Me One More Shot" (Gentry, Owen, Rogers) – 3:29
  20. "She Ain't Your Ordinary Girl" (Robert Jason) – 2:53
  21. "In Pictures" (Bobby E. Boyd, Joe Doyle) – 3:33
  22. "Sad Lookin' Moon" (Fowler, Gentry, Owen) – 3:33
  • A Previously unreleased

Live DVD

edit

A DVD was released with Alabama performing all 41 Number One Hits (plus My Home's In Alabama) at Las Vegas on October 10, 1998, as a promotion to the album. The three new tracks were not performed live.

Track listing

Personnel on Tracks 1-3 (Disk #1)

edit
Alabama

Alabama's drummer, Mark Herndon, does not play on the new tracks.

Additional Musicians

Charts

edit

Certifications

edit
Region Certification Certified units/sales
United States (RIAA)[10] 5× Platinum 5,000,000^

^ Shipments figures based on certification alone.

References

edit
  1. ^ AllMusic review
  2. ^ Stephen Thomas Erlewine. "The Essential Alabama [2005] - Overview". Allmusic. Retrieved December 10, 2013.
  3. ^ "Searchable Database - Search: For the Record, author: Alabama". RIAA. Retrieved December 10, 2013.
  4. ^ "Alabama Chart History (Billboard 200)". Billboard. Retrieved May 13, 2021.
  5. ^ a b "Alabama Chart History (Top Country Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved May 13, 2021.
  6. ^ "Top Billboard 200 Albums – Year-End 1998". Billboard. Retrieved May 13, 2021.
  7. ^ "Top Country Albums – Year-End 1998". Billboard. Retrieved May 13, 2021.
  8. ^ "Top Billboard 200 Albums – Year-End 1999". Billboard. Retrieved May 13, 2021.
  9. ^ "Top Country Albums – Year-End 1999". Billboard. Retrieved May 13, 2021.
  10. ^ "American album certifications – Alabama – For the Record". Recording Industry Association of America.