Consumer Guide Album

Rosanne Cash: Hits 1979-1989 [Columbia, 1989]
"Seven Year Ache," "Hold On," and "I Don't Know Why You Don't Want Me" announce themselves as classics every time. They're classic country, classic pop, classic Rosanne, and though she's the decade's premier interpretive singer, she wrote them all. Their only competition is a Tom Petty tune, which suggests something about her musical affinities. But I miss "Rosie Strike Back" and "The Real Me"--from a nonpop, noncountry, non-Tom Petty vantage the rest of these perfectly enjoyable selections seem half a touch too cute, languid, soft. And fairly depict the decade's premier interpretive singer nonetheless. A−