Retrospective was a 1995
compilation, encapsulating
Rosanne Cash's sixteen years with Columbia, released as she was leaving the label. Rather than relying on radio hits,
Retrospective focused on lesser known album tracks, unreleased material and live recordings. In the years since, as Columbia has let the majority of Cash's albums go out of print, it has become, along with her
Greatest Hits collection, the primary source for listeners to obtain most of her material.