Alabama - For the Record

Even though the title should be taken with a grain of salt -- an enormous number of these 44 songs did reach number one, but a handful only peaked at two or three -- there's no denying that For the Record is an impressive achievement. Spanning two discs and two decades, For the Record contains nearly every great song Alabama recorded, plus three new tunes. If any single album provides definitive proof as to why Alabama is the most popular country band of all time, this is it -- they make this appealingly polished, hook-heavy, radio-ready mainstream pop sound easy as pie. Alabama may have had a couple of album cuts every now and then that were quite good, but they were at their best turning out hits as a singles band, as such contemporary classics as "Tennessee River," "Mountain Music," "The Closer You Get," "Forty Hour Week (For a Livin')," "Jukebox on My Mind," and "Down Home" illustrate. Consequently, it's hard not to view For the Record, with its virtual cornucopia of hits, as the definitive Alabama collection, maybe even the definitive Alabama album. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music Guide

Name Credits Alabama Producer Barry Beckett Producer Bill Brunt Art Direction, Design Blake Morgan Design Brent Mason Guitar (12 String), Gut String Guitar Don Cook Producer Emory Gordy Producer Garth Fundis Producer Glenn Meadows Mastering Harold Shedd Producer Jeff Cook Vocals, Guitar, Fiddle John Barlow Jarvis Piano John Kunz Digital Editing Josh Leo Producer Kimberly Dumas Design Larry Franklin Fiddle Larry MacBride Producer Larry Michael Lee Associate Producer, Producer Lonnie Wilson Drums, Percussion Mark Capps Mixing Assistant, Engineer, Assistant Engineer Mark Casstevens Guitar (Acoustic) Mark Herndon Percussion, Drums Mike Bradley Mixing, Engineer Peter Nash Photography Randy Owen Vocals Robert K. Oermann Liner Notes Steve Dorff Engineer, String Arrangements Steve Nathan Keyboards Susan Eaddy Art Direction Theodore Gentry Bass, Vocals