The Hit Singles Collection (CD - 2002)

Producers include: Herb Abramson, Ahmet Ertegun, Nesuhi Ertegun, Dick Jacobs, Jerry Wexler, Nik Venet, Charles Koppelman, Don Rubin.

Compilation producer: James Austin.

Recorded between 1958 & 1966. Includes liner notes by Bill Dahl.

All tracks have been digitally remastered.

Rhino's 2002 compilation The Hit Singles Collection is a 20-track disc that contains all of Bobby Darin's big hits, from "Early in the Morning" with the Rinky-Dinks to "Lovin' You" at the end of his career. In between, all of his classic songs -- "Splish Splash," "Queen of the Hop," "Dream Lover," "Mack the Knife," "Beyond the Sea," "Things," "If I Were a Carpenter" -- are here, presented in excellent sound and with good notes from Bill Dahl. As single-disc collections on Darin go, few are better than this. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine

While Bobby Darin was an unpredictable sort who ventured from 1950s rock & roll to swing to country and folk-rock over the course of his career, THE HIT SINGLES COLLECTION does as good a job of touching all the Darin bases as any single-disc anthology possibly could. Darin's '50s pop period is covered here ("Splish Splash," et al), as is his neo-Sinatra big-band crooner work (as on the signature song "Mack the Knife"). Subsequent musical detours for Darin included a turn down the country road ("Things," "18 Yellow Roses") and eventually his re-invention as an introspective folk-rocker ("If I Were a Carpenter"). While the format allows for only brief pit stops along Darin's artistic journey, THE HIT SINGLES COLLECTION is the perfect thumbnail sketch of the man's multifarious gifts. minimize