{{Use mdy dates|date=May 2026}} {{Infobox album | name = The Very Best of Ed Ames | type = compilation | artist = Ed Ames | cover = File:The Very Best of Ed Ames by Ed Ames LP.png | released = {{start date|2001|07|10}} | studio = RCA's Music Center of the World, Hollywood, California | genre = {{hlist|Pop|easy listening}} | label = RCA Victor | producer = {{hlist|Jim Foglesong|Paul Williams}} | compiler = Joseph F. Laredo | prev_title = The Very Best of Ed Ames (Taragon) | prev_year = 2000 | next_title = | next_year = | misc = {{Singles | name = The Very Best of Ed Ames | type = studio | single1 = Try To Remember | single1date = December 1964 | single2 = My Cup Runneth Over | single2date = November 1966 | single3 = Time, Time | single3date = April 1967 | single4 = When the Snow Is on the Roses | single4date = September 1967 | single5 = Who Will Answer? | single5date = December 1967 | single6 = Apologize | single6date = April 1968 | single7 = All My Love's Laughter | single7date = July 1968 | single8 = Kiss Her Now | single8date = October 1968 | single9 = Changing, Changing | single9date = February 1969 | single10 = Son of a Travelin' Man | single10date = April 1969 | single11 = Leave Them a Flower | single11date = September 1969 | single12 = A Thing Called Love | single12date = November 1969 }} }} '''''The Very Best of Ed Ames''''' is a compilation album by American pop singer Ed Ames. It was released in July 2001 via RCA Victor and was the fourth compilation album of his career. ''The Very Best of Ed Ames'' contained 14 tracks, including multiple singles by Ames that topped the ''Billboard'' Easy Listening chart, and received pop sales as well. The album received positive reviews from several reviewers.
== Background, recording, and release == Ed Ames had been a recording artist for the RCA Victor label since the 1950s, during his time in the Ames Brothers vocal group. In 1966, his solo career took off with the hit "My Cup Runneth Over".<ref name="Adult" /> He continued to have hit singles and best-selling albums.<ref name="Adult" /> The songs included on ''The Very Best of Ed Ames'' were originally recorded at RCA's Music Center of the World, located in Hollywood, California. All of them were produced by Jim Foglesong.<ref name="Liner Notes">{{cite AV media |last1=Ames |first1=Ed |title=''The Very Best of Ed Ames'' (Disc Information) |journal=RCA Victor |date=July 10, 2001 |id=07863 69394 2 (CD)}}</ref> Arrangements were provided by Al Capps, Jimmy Wisner, Jimmie Haskell, Artie Butler, and Perry Botkin Jr..<ref name="Liner Notes" /> Claus Ogerman is credited with conducting "Try to Remember".<ref name="Liner Notes" /> Most tracks were classified as contemporary and easy listening.<ref name="AllMusic" /> ''The Very Best of Ed Ames'' was originally released in July 2001 by RCA Victor. It was available only on CD.<ref name="AllMusic" /> Almost two decades later, it was rereleased to digital streaming platforms.<ref name="Apple">{{cite web |title=''The Very Best of Ed Ames'' by Ed Ames |url=https://music.apple.com/us/album/sing-away-the-world/1545707396 |website=Apple Music |access-date=May 17, 2026}}</ref>
== Critical reception == Greg Adams on AllMusic stated that "''The Very Best of Ed Ames'' offers a fine retrospective of the mightiest baritone in pop music," noted that the album "might seem like a skimpy anthology with only 14 tracks, but it is an excellent distillation of this classic pop singer's solo recordings." Adams believed that the album "covers most of Ames' big hits and concentrates on broadly appealing material like 'My Cup Runneth Over' and the antiwar song 'Who Will Answer?'"<ref name="AllMusic">{{Cite web |last=Adams |first=Greg |title=Ed Ames - The Very Best of Ed Ames - Reviews and information |url=https://www.allmusic.com/album/the-very-best-of-ed-ames-rca--mw0000588376 |access-date=May 17, 2026 |website=AllMusic}}</ref>
== Chart performance and singles == A total of twelve singles and two album tracks were included on ''The Very Best of Ed Ames''. The most recent single on the album was "A Thing Called Love", released in 1969 by Ames, it was later made popular by Johnny Cash. It became a top-40 single on America's ''Billboard'' adult contemporary chart, rising to the number 21 position.<ref name="Adult">{{Cite book |last=Whitburn |first=Joel |url=https://archive.org/details/joelwhitburnpres0000whit/page/10/mode/2up |title=Joel Whitburn presents Billboard top adult songs, 1961-2006 |date=2007 |publisher=Menomonee Falls, Wis. : Record Research Inc. |isbn=978-0-89820-169-7 |pages=10 |url-access=registration}}</ref> In Canada, it was listed at similar postions on the adult-oriented chart, but the single reached the pop charts as well, peaking at No. 65 on the ''RPM'' Top 100 Singles chart.<ref name="canada">{{cite web|title=Searched: Ed Ames on the RPM charts |url=https://recherche-collection-search.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/Home/Result?q_type_1=q&q_1=Ed%20ames&DataSource=Library%7CRPM&DataSourceSel=Library&ST=SAD&&tag=101149&|website=Library and Archives Canada |access-date=May 3, 2026}}</ref>
The first single was his first solo success, "Try to Remember". It became a success on the easy listening charts, reaching the top-20, and scraped the pop charts as well.<ref name="Adult" /> The main highlight was the second single released at the end of 1966, "My Cup Runneth Over", which topped the easy listening charts, and reached the top-10 on the pop charts in both the US and Canada; his only single to have achieved this success.<ref name="canada" /> Four other well-charting singles were released in 1967 and 1968, "Time, Time," "When the Snow Is on the Roses," "Who Will Answer?," "Apologize".<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last=Whitburn |first=Joel |url=https://archive.org/details/joelwhitburnstop00whitbur/page/16/mode/2up |title=Joel Whitburn's top pop singles 1955-2002 |date=2002 |publisher=Record Research |isbn=0898201551 |location=Menomonee Falls, Wisc. |pages=16 |access-date=May 31, 2026}}</ref> Another Broadway themed single was released in October 1968, titled "Kiss Her Now" from the musical ''Dear World''.<ref name="kisshernow">{{cite AV media |last1=Ames |first1=Ed |title="Kiss Her Now"/"Gloves, Pictures, Dreams (Doors, Mirrors and Heartaches)" (7" vinyl single) |journal=RCA Victor |date=October 1968 |id=47-9647}}</ref> "Changing, Changing" and "Leave Them a Flower" were message-oriented singles released in early and late 1969, both reaching the Easy Listening chart.<ref name="AllMusic" /> "Son of a Travelin' Man" was Ames' final ''Billboard'' Hot 100 entry.<ref name=":0" /> {{Clear}}
==Track listing== {{track listing | headline = Compact disc<ref name="Liner Notes"/>
| total_length = 40:19 | title1 = My Cup Runneth Over | writer1 = {{hlist|Harvey Schmidt|Tom Jones}} | length1 = 2:44
| title2 = Try to Remember | writer2 = {{hlist|Harvey Schmidt|Tom Jones}} | length2 = 3:57
| title3 = All My Love's Laughter | writer3 = {{hlist|Jimmy Webb}} | length3 = 2:43
| title4 = Time, Time | writer4 = {{hlist|Renato Canfora|Giuseppe Baselli|Mort Shuman}} | length4 = 2:50
| title5 = They Call the Wind Maria | writer5 = {{hlist|Alan Jay Lerner|Frederick Loewe}} | length5 = 2:54
| title6 = Thing Called Love | writer6 = {{hlist|Jerry Hubbard}} | length6 = 2:45
| title7 = Who Will Answer? (Aleluya No. 1) | writer7 = {{hlist|Luis Eduardo Aute|Sheila Davis}} | length7 = 3:40
| title8 = Apologize | writer8 = {{hlist|Jimmy Griffin|Michael Z. Gordon}} | length8 = 2:04
| title9 = Son of a Travelin' Man | writer9 = {{hlist|Mauro Lusini | Robert Allen}} | length9 = 2:45
| title10 = Kiss Her Now | writer10 = {{hlist|Jerry Herman}} | length10 = 2:08
| title11 = There's a Kind of Hush (All Over the World) | writer11 = {{hlist|Geoff Stephens|Les Reed}} | length11 = 2:50
| title12 = Changing, Changing | writer12 = {{hlist|Sheila Davis}} | length12 = 3:19
| title13 = Leave Them a Flower | writer13 = {{hlist|Wally Whyton}} | length13 = 2:55
| title14 = When the Snow Is on the Roses | writer14 = {{hlist|Eddie Snyder|Ernst Bader|James Last|Larry Kusik}} | length14 = 2:45 }}
== Personnel == All credits are adapted from the liner notes of ''The Very Best of Ed Ames''.<ref name="Liner Notes" />
* Ed Ames – vocals * Jim Foglesong – producer * Claus Ogerman, (tracks: 2) – conductor * Perry Botkin Jr., (tracks: 1 to 5, 7 to 8, 10 to 12, 14) – arranger, conductor * Artie Butler, (tracks: 9) – arranger, conductor * Al Capps, (tracks: 6) – arranger, conductor * Jimmie Haskell, (tracks: 13) – arranger, conductor * Frank Harkins – art direction * Paul Williams – compilation producer * Joseph F. Laredo – compiled by * JRJ Associates, Inc. – design * Joseph F. Laredo – liner notes * BMG Entertainment Archives – photography * Bill Lacey – restoration * Mike Hartry – transferred by
==References== {{reflist}}
{{Ed Ames}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Very Best of Ed Ames}} Category:2001 compilation albums Category:Ed Ames albums Category:RCA Victor albums