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Part of the Original Singles CollectionLet's get the negative stuff out of the way first. For the material included in this collection, it is wonderful. My problem with it (and, it would seem, I am not the only one) has to do with the material NOT included. OK, a set called THE ORIGINAL SINGLES COLLECTION would not be expected to include demos or live recordings, but there were many songs released as singles that were left off. The songs recorded as Luke the Drifter are ignored ("Ramblin' Man", originally a Luke the Drifter single, w…
Let's get the negative stuff out of the way first. For the material included in this collection, it is wonderful. My problem with it (and, it would seem, I am not the only one) has to do with the material NOT included. OK, a set called THE ORIGINAL SINGLES COLLECTION would not be expected to include demos or live recordings, but there were many songs released as singles that were left off. The songs recorded as Luke the Drifter are ignored ("Ramblin' Man", originally a Luke the Drifter single, was reissued and credited to Hank Williams as the B-side of "Take These Chains From My Heart" in July, 1953), as are many of the songs released as singles credited to "Hank Williams and His Guitar". While some of those songs appear here, some really good ones like "Faded Love and Winter Roses" and "Please Don't Let Me Love You" (released as both sides of the same single in 1955) were overlooked.But enough with the problems with this set.What we do have in this collection is a chronological journey through the studio recordings that Hank released under his own name during his brilliant and tragically short career. Listening to this material in order, one can hear the development of a true artist and pioneer. When Hank first started recording, electric instruments and drums were all but taboo in country records. After Hank, they were almost mandatory. His vocal delivery, while heavily colored with his southern accent, never sounded forced or affected. He just seemed to be doing what he was born to do.The writing is top-notch, for the most part. There are some very clever hooks in many songs and, as a lyricist, Hank wrote in simple language, but he did it so cleverly that even intellectuals could appreciate it (pay attention to the lyrical symmetry in "I Won't Be Home No More" for an example of this).The sound quality is variable in this set. The first few tracks (recorded as early as 1942) sound pretty bad by modern standards. Even early MGM recordings, such as 1948's "Mansion on the Hill" leave something to be desired. But as time passed and Hank's popularity (and, probably, recording budget) grew, the quality improved dramatically. The studio recordings from the early 1950s actually sound pretty good from a technical perspective and brilliant from an artistic one.The book included gives good background on the recordings as well as the artist. A nice extra for the set.This collection is a very good introduction to the music of an American treasure and I recommend it highly. But be warned. After listening to this, you will very probably want to go out and buy the 10-disc COMPLETE* HANK WILLIAMS. This stuff really is that good.
Written by Astrid Slomova
Another dismal quick cash-in by PolygramJust as you would expect "The Complete Hank Williams" to be EVERYTHING, you would expect this to be every session recording Hank ever made, but it isn't. For starters, it is missing "I'm Satisfied With You" which is a Hank cut, not a Luke the Drifter selection. Polygram completely ignores, with the exception of two songs, the sides Hank cut as Luke the Drifter as well as all studio recordings made with Audrey Williams. Instead, they give us selections like "Alone & Forsaken" and "The Angel of De…
Just as you would expect "The Complete Hank Williams" to be EVERYTHING, you would expect this to be every session recording Hank ever made, but it isn't. For starters, it is missing "I'm Satisfied With You" which is a Hank cut, not a Luke the Drifter selection. Polygram completely ignores, with the exception of two songs, the sides Hank cut as Luke the Drifter as well as all studio recordings made with Audrey Williams. Instead, they give us selections like "Alone & Forsaken" and "The Angel of Death" which have been rehashed on practically every release they've done. Polygram & Colin Escott consistently harp upon the bad treatment that MGM heaped upon the Williams catalouge, but they are doing just as much of an injustice to it themselves. When will Polygram (and it's affiliates such Mercury Nashville) finally decide to do the right thing with this body of classic American music? Take a lesson from Bear Family in Germany as to what they have done for many American artists and hope Polygram will get it's act straight!
Written by an unknown author
Track listing Edit
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CD 1 : Singles Collection
format: number: title: number name artist hh:mm:ss 1I'm Not Coming Home Anymore [#]?:??Play Buy track 2Never Again (Will I Knock on Your Door)?:??Play Buy track 3Calling You?:??Play Buy track 4Wealth Won't Save Your Soul?:??Play Buy track 5When God Comes and Gathers His Jewels?:??Play Buy track 6My Love for You (Has Turned to Hate)?:??Play Buy track 7I Don't Care (If Tomorrow Never Comes)?:??Play Buy track 8Pan American?:??Play Buy track 9Honky Tonkin'?:??Play Buy track 10(Last Night) I Heard You Crying in Your Sleep?:??Play Buy track 11Move It on Over?:??Play Buy track 12On the Banks of the Old Pontchartrain - Hank Williams, Vincent, Ramona?:??Play Buy track 13Fly Trouble - Hank Williams, Biggs, Bunny?:??Play Buy track 14My Sweet Love Ain't Around?:??Play Buy track 15Little Rootie Tootie - Hank Williams, Rose, Fred?:??Play Buy track 16Honky Tonkin'?:??Play Buy track 17I'll Be a Bachelor 'Til I Die?:??Play Buy track 18I'm a Long Gone Daddy?:??Play Buy track 19The Blues Come Around?:??Play Buy track 20Six More Miles (To the Graveyard)?:??Play Buy track 21I Saw the Light?:??Play Buy track 22A Mansion on the Hill - Hank Williams, Rose, Fred?:??Play Buy track 23I Can't Get You off of My Mind?:??Play Buy track 24Lovesick Blues - Hank Williams, Friend, Cliff?:??Play Buy track 25Wedding Bells - Hank Williams, Boone, Claude?:??Play Buy track 26I've Just Told Mama Goodbye - Hank Williams, Kinsey, Curly?:??Play Buy track -
unknown format 2 : Singles Collection
format: number: title: number name artist hh:mm:ss 1Mind Your Own Business?:??Play Buy track 2There'll Be No Teardrops Tonight?:??Play Buy track 3Lost Highway - Hank Williams, Payne, Leon?:??Play Buy track 4You're Gonna Change (Or I'm Gonna Leave)?:??Play Buy track 5I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry?:??Play Buy track 6My Bucket's Got a Hole in It - Hank Williams, Williams, Clarence?:??Play Buy track 7May You Never Be Alone?:??Play Buy track 8I Just Don't Like This Kind of Livin'?:??Play Buy track 9Long Gone Lonesome Blues?:??Play Buy track 10My Son Calls Another Man Daddy?:??Play Buy track 11Why Don't You Love Me (Like You Used to Do)??:??Play Buy track 12A House Without Love?:??Play Buy track 13Why Should We Try Anymore?:??Play Buy track 14They'll Never Take Her Love from Me - Hank Williams, Payne, Leon?:??Play Buy track 15Moanin' the Blues?:??Play Buy track 16Nobody's Lonesome for Me?:??Play Buy track -
unknown format 3 : Singles Collection
format: number: title: number name artist hh:mm:ss 1Half as Much - Hank Williams, Williams, Curly?:??Play Buy track 2Let's Turn Back the Years?:??Play Buy track 3Jambalaya (On the Bayou)?:??Play Buy track 4Window Shopping - Hank Williams, Joseph, Marcel?:??Play Buy track 5Settin' the Woods on Fire - Hank Williams, Nelson, Ed G.?:??Play Buy track 6You Win Again?:??Play Buy track 7I'll Never Get Out of This World Alive - Hank Williams, Rose, Fred?:??Play Buy track 8I Could Never Be Ashamed of You?:??Play Buy track 9Kaw-Liga - Hank Williams, Rose, Fred?:??Play Buy track 10Your Cheatin' Heart?:??Play Buy track 11I Won't Be Home No More?:??Play Buy track 12Take These Chains from My Heart - Hank Williams, Heath, Hy?:??Play Buy track 13Please Make up Your Mind?:??Play Buy track 14Ramblin' Man?:??Play Buy track 15House of Gold [*]?:??Play Buy track 16With Tears in My Eyes [*] - Hank Williams, Howard, Paul?:??Play Buy track 17Alone and Forsaken [*]?:??Play Buy track 18Fool About You [First American Issue][*] - Hank Williams, Hutchinson, Ralph C?:??Play Buy track 19I'm Free at Last [First Issue Undubbed][*] - Hank Williams, Tubb, Ernest?:??Play Buy track 20Someday You'll Call My Name [*] - Hank Williams, Branch, Jean?:??Play Buy track 21I Can't Escape from You [First Issue Undubbed][*]?:??Play Buy track 22Something Got a Hold of Me [*] - Hank Williams, Carter, A.P.?:??Play Buy track 23Weary Blues from Waitin' [First Issue Undubbed][*]?:??Play Buy track 24I Ain't Got Nothin' But Time [First Issue Undubbed][*]?:??Play Buy track 25Angel of Death [*]?:??Play Buy track 26There's No Room in My Heart for the Blues [*] - Hank Williams, Rose, Fred?:??Play Buy track 27At the First Fall of Snow [*] - Hank Williams, Rose, Lorene?:??Play Buy track 28The Log Train [*]?:??Play Buy track 29All the Love I Ever Had [#][*]?:??Play Buy track 30There's a Tear in My Beer [#][*]?:??Play Buy track
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