Personnel includes: Bobby Darin (vocals); Richard Wess, Jimmie Haskell, Jack Nitzche, Richard Behrke (arranger, conductor). 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. 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.
