Customer Reviews

Anthology

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Combining hillbilly, blues, gospel and folk ballads, Bill Monroe made his lightning mandolin a lead instrument within his tightly syncopated acoustic stringband style. In the process, he singlehandedly create his own genre of music. Well annotated and remastered, Anthology starts chronologically with "New Mule Skinner Blues" from his debut 1950 Decca session and ends with 1981's eerie "My Last Days On Earth" (inspired by a bout with colon cancer).

Monroe redid for Decca some songs he'd done on Columbia before angrily leaving that label after it signed the rival Stanley Brothers. The 1954 version of his signature "Blue Moon Of Kentucky" - recorded right after Elvis' did it for Sun - picks up speed compared to his 1946 original on Columbia. One surprise is a 1951 rendition of his standard "Kentucky Waltz" with drums and organ. Some songs are autobiographical: "Uncle Pen" honors the uncle who took him in as a cross-eyed teen-aged orphan while "My Little Georgia Rose" refers to the daughter his long-time bassist Bessie Lee Mauldin bore him.

Half the 50 cuts found here aren't on his most extensive package, MCA's four-CD The Music Of Bill Monroe: 1936-1994, making this an essential purchase for Monroe fans.

Quite possibly the ideal Bill Monroe set... This 2-CD retrospective is probably the perfect middleground between the humongous, ultimo-collector's box sets put out by Bear Family (or MCA's previous "Music Of Bill Monroe" collection, which clocked in at four whole CDs) and the more demure cheapo single-disc "best-ofs" that lie at the other extreme. Fifty songs on two CDs is probably just about right for most eager, twang-loving record buyers: maybe not every great, classic song is on here, but chances are you'll actually listen to this collection more than once. Nice sound quality and great song selection: the 1940s and 1970s are both skipped in their entirety, but one disc covering the 'Fifties and a second one covering the 'Sixties is still pretty sweet. The friendly, generous liner notes also provide all the info on recording personnel, which is particularly useful when tracking the efforts of young'uns such as Peter Rowan, Richard Greene and Bill Keith, who apprenticed in the mid-'60s editions of the Blue Grass Boys, before going on to get found the modern bluegrass movement. Truly, a top-notch collection... highly recommended!

I purchased this set of CDs to replace the ones that were stolen. Bill Monroe, the Father of Bluegrass music, will always be one of my favorite singers/instrumentalist of bluegrass and gospel. Having listened to his singing at the Grand Old Opry, on an old Victrola radio, during the 40s then watching him perform on TV has been very satisfying to me. This CD is definitely a good buy if you like Bluegrass music.

This anthology is an essential addition to the library of listeners and collectors of bluegrass and old-time music.

I mean, come on; it's Bill Monroe, buy it if you don't already have it.

I can't compare this particular CD to other Bill Monroe collections as I have only heard one other, but this certainly is a terrific CD. Blue-eyed country soul with uplifting vocals and fantastic musicianship. Anyone interested in honest, classic bluegrass music cannot go wrong with this one.

The quality of the recordings is quite good, the selections are representative of Monroe's work, and the span of the music is several decades of Bill Monroe's career. It is a pleasure to listen to some of these important tunes for the first time. A good mix of instrumentals, old timey, and new-fangled (for that time). There are two CDs, so there is plenty of great music. Long live Bill Monroe. Buy a Mandolin.

This is a must have CD. There are 50 songs on this 2 CD set. The recordings are of great quality. It comes with a 23 page booklet with Bill Monroe history, pictures, and info on the songs. This is a very worthy purchase and a must have for every Bluegrass lover.