Toby Keith's
Greatest Hits, Vol. 2 picks up where his first hits collection, 1998's
Greatest Hits, Vol. 1, left off -- in 1999, when
Keith signed to DreamWorks. Unfortunately, it doesn't cover everything
Keith released between 1999's
How Do You Like Me Now?! and
Greatest Hits, Vol. 2's release in November 2004. It inexplicably bypasses his 2003 album
Shock'n Y'All entirely, which means that number one hits "I Love This Bar," "American Soldier," and "Whiskey Girl" are nowhere to be found. Instead, there are three selections from his first three DreamWorks albums --
How Do You Like Me Now?!, 2001's
Pull My Chain, and 2002's
Unleashed -- adding three new recordings plus live takes of "You Ain't Much Fun" and "Should've Been a Cowboy," which he originally cut for Mercury. This means this hits collection is far from complete, missing not just
Shock'n Y'All, but smaller DreamWorks hits like "When Love Fades," and the new material doesn't quite make up for their absence, even if the straight-ahead "Go With Her" and the carnivalesque "Stays in Mexico" are enjoyable (his update of the
James Taylor/
Carly Simon duet on
Inez & Charlie Foxx's "Mockingbird," recorded with Krystal, is another matter entirely). So,
Greatest Hits, Vol. 2 isn't as comprehensive or accurate as it should have been, but what is here is for the most part enjoyable, and a good way to get for casual fans to get most of his biggest hits of the 2000s in one place. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine