****Excellent***Good**Fair*Poor : COMPACT DISCS

“Tanya Tucker’s Greatest Hits.” Columbia. At just 29 minutes, this 10-song entry must be one of the world’s stingiest CDs, but the budget package ($8.99 in one local chain) documents a fascinating moment in country-music history. Only 13 when she began working in 1972 with producer Billy Sherrill, Tucker demonstrated on hits like “Delta Dawn” and “Would You Lay With Me (in a Field of Stone)” remarkable vocal character. But the most intriguing thing about the records was the fact that a teen-ager was singing about such adult themes (of sex, violence and insanity) in the conservative world of country music. The pop/rock-minded Tucker has continued to have hits, but she has never lived up artistically to the promise of these early efforts. Sound quality: fair. ***