I Will Stand by You: The Essential Collection

Recording information: Dark Horse Recording; Ocean Way Nashville.Photographers: Kristin Barlowe; Jeff Johnson ; Bryn Donaldson.While it's true that Curb Records just keeps churning out the same Judds material over and over again, as single-disc compilations go, I Will Stand by You, with its 14 tracks, offers something different in two respects. The first is sound; the remastering here is easily the best of any compilation released under the Judds' name; the second is that even though the expected hits are all here, it does include the first new material by the duo in over a decade in the title track and "Back Home," which were cut for their reunion tour. The title track, co-written written by Steven Lee Olsen, Robert Ellis Orrall, and Angelo Petraglia, is the Judds at their most alien from themselves. Drenched in contemporary country production by Don Potter, the tracks' lyrics are a post-Gretchen Wilson anthem of seeming independence and strength, surrounded by a skittering blend of a