Customer Reviews

40 #1 Hits

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This is the first Merle Haggard collection (outside of the Down Every Road Box Set)that spans his biggest hit years with Capitol, MCA and Epic. Including duets, he had 38 #1's on the Billboard Country Singles Charts. They're all here, with 2 that went to #2 ("If We're Not Back In Love By Monday", and "I'm Always On A Mountain When I Fall"). Who knows why the compilers picked those two over a couple of other Haggard songs that went to #2 (e.g. "Ramblin' Fever"), since it's never explained in the liner notes (which are pretty good). Be aware that some of Haggard's best known classics: "Swinging Doors", "Bottle Let Me Down", "My Own Kind Of Hat", "Rainbow Stew" and "I Take A Lot Of Pride In What I Am", didn't go to #1, but you shouldn't have trouble locating them on one of his CD's. I suggest 2 out of print jobs: Capitol Collector's Series and Rhino Records More of the Best. Both are easy to find as used CD's. In all, this is a good starting point for anyone who's curious about Merle Haggard's career. If you're a die-hard then you'll like having the big hits all in one package.

As I've explained in reviews of some older compilations of his music, it wasn't always easy to collect all Merle's classic songs that really mattered. The boxed set, Down every road, made that task very easy for those who could afford it. Now comes this double-CD containing forty of his most important songs. Some songs, now regarded as classics, were released only as B-sides, weren't released on singles at all, or didn't reach the top of the charts, so this set will not satisfy some diehard fans. Among the songs that do not qualify for inclusion here are Today I started loving you again, Silver wings, All my friends are gonna be strangers, Swinging doors, Bottle let me down and I take a lot of pride in what I am. Nevertheless, this is the strongest collection you're ever likely to find of Merle's music on a double-CD.

The set contains all 38 of his Billboard number one country hits, plus two that made number two. It may be that these two (If we're not back in love by Monday, I'm always on a mountain when I fall) made number one in some other chart - if not, the album title is inaccurate, but that doesn't affect the quality of the music, which covers his recordings for Capitol, MCA and Epic. Getting all three in one double-CD is a huge benefit to fans.

The tracks included here are the songs that established Merle's reputation and sustained it. Songs like Hungry eyes, Mama tried and Branded man tell of his troubled early life and coming to terms with it. Merle stood up for what he believed in with songs like Okie from Muskogee and Fighting side of me. He sang about overcoming hardship in Daddy Frank and If we make it through December. He sang of yearning in Always wanting you (apparently written about Dolly Parton), Big city and Sing me back home.

Merle sang some brilliant love songs including It's all in the movies, My favorite memory, That's the way love goes and A place to fall apart. He also recorded plenty of duets although only two of them qualified for this set, these being Yesterday's wine (with George Jones) and Pancho and Lefty (with Willie Nelson). Other classic songs feature here include Legend of Bonnie and Clyde, Working man blues, Old man from the mountain, Kentucky gambler, Moving on, Cherokee maiden and Roots of my raising.

This is the best introduction to Merle's music there is, unless you want to go for the boxed set. It contains nearly all the classic songs and the few it doesn't can be found easily if you want them.

40 #1 Hits is just what its name implies: forty Country chart-topping Merle Haggard singles from 1967's "Branded Man" to `87's "Twinkle, Twinkle Lucky Star."

Possessing a voice that was smooth as cream in his youth, Haggard's greatest strength ultimately lie in the breadth of his palette. We find home-spun sentimentality ("Daddy Frank"), blue-collar pride ("Working Man Blues"), flag waving ("Okie From Muskogee," which he wrote as a joke) and outlawry. "Sing Me Back Home" stems from a prison buddy's execution after a guard was killed in an escape attempt Hag didn't join. The banjo in "The Legend Of Bonnie And Clyde" creates a link with Earl Scruggs' "Foggy Mountain Breakdown" runs in Arthur Penn's 1967 film Bonnie & Clyde.

His topical songs' essential character is an outsider, be it an ex-con ("Branded Man"), scorned poor woman ("Hungry Eyes") or alienated worker ("Big City," whose fiddle recalls old Wills discs). The branded man's line "I'd like to hold my head up and be proud of who I am" fits many Haggard protagonists. To his former wife and singing partner Bonnie Owens, he's part Frizzell, part James Dean.

As for love songs, "Always Wanting You" was inspired by unrequited feelings for Dolly Parton, who simply saw him as a friend. His third wife Lorena Williams wrote "You Take Me For Granted" as their marriage floundered. "Carolyn" (penned by Oklahoma-to-Bakersfield transplant Tommy Collins) and "It's Not Love (But It's Not Bad)" ache with a husband cheating out of pure hurt. For duets, there's Clint Eastwood on a jovial "Bar Room Buddies," George Jones on "Yesterday's Wine" and Willie Nelson on the enigmatic "Pancho And Lefty."

This compactly packaged two-CD set has only one photo and little discographic data, but it does enjoy sparkling sound and twelve tracks (seven licensed from Hag's post-Capitol labels) his four-CD retrospective Down Every Road lacked. Nancy Henderson's informative notes look beneath the surface of the man and his music.

According to Billboard, Merle Haggard from Bakersfield, CA had 90 chart releases from 1963 to 1990. Think about that statistic! All 38 #1 songs are here on this two CD release. Two of Merle's 8 #2 hits round out the collection. Personal favorites are highly subjective but his reviewer favored "Things Aren't Funny Anymore", "and "Sing Me Back Home". The latter was dedicated to a former fellow inmate at San Quentin who was executed for murdering a prison guard. The former was composed while a marriage was breaking up. VERY special mention goes to " I Wonder If They Ever Think of Me". It's about a POW in Vietnam who is afraid his family and friends back in the World have forgotten him. That must have happened in real life far too often. The only tracks that failed to satisfy were the 3 duets, "Bar Room Buddies" - with Clint Eastwood! - "Pancho and Lefty" with Willie Nelson and "Yesterday's Wine" with George Jones. There is a fine quasi-duet with the ubiquitous Janie Fricke, "A Place to Fall Apart". Merle has always admitted to be heavily influenced by Lefty Frizzell and the similarity of styles is unmistakable, more to the credit of both men. Linear notes by Nancy Henderson embellish the collection and give context to several of the tracks. (Some may feel that the small, dropped out typeface doesn't do the insert complete justice.) Before reading Joel Whitburn's "Billboard Book of Country Music", this reviewer was unaware that many of Hag's best-known work did NOT attain #1 status. That list would include "Ramlin' Fever", and "Misery and Gin". Their exclusions should be ignored. The final word here is that this CD is a worthwhile addition to any serious classic country collection. For the $$, it is also a great value. Testimony such as that may appear trite, but it is on target in this case

I owe it all to Alan Jackson. Recently I bought his album, WHEN SOMEBODY LOVES YOU and was listening to the first track, Meat and Potato Man. As I listened I heard Jackson sing, "I'm a Haggard fan. A meat and potato man..." I backtracked on the CD to make sure that I had heard him right. Did he say a Haggard fan? After playing it few a couple of times I was sure that Jackson was pitching Merle Haggard.

Interestingly, the lyrics came back to me again and again over the next few days until, finally, I determined to check Haggard out and 40 #1 HITS was the album that I chose. After listening I can certainly see why Alan Jackson would call himself "a Haggard Fan." If you haven't heard anything from Merle Haggard, there's certainly much more than the stereotypic "Okie From Muskogee." Here you'll be introduced to a broad range of Haggard offerings like "Mama Tried," "Grandma Harp," "I'm Always On A Mountain When I Fall," "Pancho And Lefty (with Willie Nelson)," and, my album favorite, "Going Where The Lonely Go." But, heck, there are forty songs here, any of which I could have listed.

Is Haggard worth a listen? Absolutely. Alan Jackson was dead right!

THE HORSEMAN

There are two Merle Haggard's. Merle the younger and Merle the Elder, with
two quite different voices both equally plesant to listen to. Merle the younger sings a bit
higher and always returns to his favorite phrasing. Merle the Elder has a bit deeper range and
more variety in style. Both Merles are great listening and I listen so much I am now comfortable signing Merle songs at local Karaoki bars. This album is Merle the Younger and I recommend it strongly i you like Merle at all.
I've heard Merle now lives in the Redding area for the fishing. So if you are out fishing sometime and hear an old fisherman humming Merle tunes it might just be Merle.

First off... Bar Room Buddies was originally released in 1980 on the Elektra label, not Capital. And the soundtrack was not "Any Which Way You Can", it was "Bronco Billy".
I own the vinyl soundtrack, cassette, and the promo 45 single (B/W The Not So Great Train Robbery).

Capital could've remastered this song and got rid of the pops and scratches, better yet remaster it off the analog cassette, which would've sounded a whole lot better.
I was able to remaster it myself from my cassette tape soundtrack, which came out like a champ and way better than the Capital release, and it only took a minute to do!

Capital Records... SHAME ON YOU!!!

Everything else on this compilation is great (including Bar Room Buddies if it only sounded great), and good selections.

fantastic collection of 40 hits and they're all good, some are great. my level of appreciation of this man as an american icon doing great american country music has been greatly enhanced by this album. i love his ability to tell a story and convey complex feelings with the simplest words possible. he's a great story teller, and one who rarely devotes more than 3 min. to a song.
he is a living legend and this collection shows why.

just down to earth country music that people can relate to, just like george jones, conway twitty, vern gosdin, tammy wynette, loretta lynn these kind of singers is what country music is all about

I love to listen to the Hag. This 40 # 1 hits is the best! Every Merle Haggard fan Should own this cd its worth listening to