Customer Reviews

On the Bandstand

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Despite the title and cover photo, this isn't a live album. Instead, the title suggests the collection of songs as representative of Owens' stage show circa 1962-63. The song list combines several Owens originals (both solo and co-writes), along with some contemporary hits of others, and a few more adventurously picked covers. It's a rousing set, filled with hot fiddle and weepy steel playing, and Owens brilliant voice front-and-center. By the time this album was released, the band was already climbing to chart fame with "Act Naturally," but at the time of recording, they were on the verge, just about to break into the clear.

Though Don Rich was still heavily focussed on playing fiddle, his electric leads shows off the sting that would spearhead the Bakersfield Sound. Similarly, Owens doubles his own vocals on a few tracks, but he and Rich spark up their remarkable harmonies on several others. Ralph Mooney's steel (especially on "I Can't Stop (My Lovin' You)") and Rich's fiddle (especially the winding line on the Owens/Red Simpson penned "King of Fools") are like a twangy call-to-arms against the smooth sounds then emanating from Nashville.

The band finds plenty of space for their musical talents, including an instrumental arrangement of the Ray Price ballad, "Release Me," with superb, flowing interplay between Jay McDonald's steel and Rich's fiddle. Rich gets an even brighter spotlight for his tone and technique on a cover of "Orange Blossom Special," and takes a solo vocal spin on Howard Harlan's "Sally Was a Good Old Girl." Owens and Rich work their signature harmonies on several tunes, including Mel Tillis' "Saw Mill," Leadbelly's "Cotton Fields," and John D. Loudermilk's "Diggy Liggy Lo."

Wanda Jackson's honky-tonk tune, "Kickin' Our Hearts Around" (written expressly for Owens, and sung in his finest drawl), was the only hit single originally included on this album. The rest of the album's tracks, generally not over-anthologized, presents new ground for many Owens enthusiasts. Varese's reissue adds both sides an Owens/Rose Maddox single as a bonus, the hit version of "Sweethearts in Heaven" (an earlier version, sung by Owens and Rich, is included as an original album track) and its flip, "We're the Talk of the Town."

This album marked the beginning of a pattern that would characterize most of Buck's LPs throughout his peak years of sixties' stardom. Each album would feature several Buck solo performances mixed with numbers showcasing the rest of his band, vocally and instrumentally. Only one of Buck's hit singles was on the album: "Kickin' Our Hearts Around", a song Wanda Jackson had written specifically for him. Over half of the album features cover versions of other artists' material. Buck sings lead on seven songs, with Don Rich singing two leads, Kenny Pierce singing one lead, and two instrumentals. The CD adds two bonus duets between Buck and Rose Maddox. This is a solid CD that should appeal to Buck's fans.

Once this CD starts spinning you won't want it to stop.Some excellent tunes by a truely amazing artist.The steel guitar work is some of the best and would leave a hole in the music if it wasn't there.No collection of country music is ever complete without Buck Owens sitting at the very top.

WENT TO A.M.G. AND found the song and album and went to amazon and they
had it now i have it

Buck is simply at his best on this CD. It is awesome from start to finish. "Touch Me" is the slowest of all the songs. "Saw Mill" has some very corny lyrics, but Buck makes it work. I never could stand "Diggy Liggy Lo", but now I love it after hearing Buck sing it. Don't miss out on this CD. It will become one of your most treasured CD's.

Before he became primarily known for hosting Hee Haw, the country answer to TV's Laugh-In, Buck Owens had one of the hottest musical careers ever in country music, the whole time never having quite joined the mainstream of country. This 1963 album catches Owens and his band, who were key to his sound, just as they were about to move to their highest level of popularity. Owens was already a star, having charted eight Billboard Top 10 country hits (plus two that peaked at 11), including one that went to Number 1 on the Cashbox charts. One of those singles is on this album, which gathered material from as early as 1961 (all studio recordings, by the way). Between this album and 1969, when Hee Haw began, Owens and his band had an amazing 19 Billboard Number 1 country hits, five additional Top 10s, and two crossover Top 10 Christmas songs.

The backbone of this golden run of hits was the "Bakersfield Sound" (Bakersfield, California being Owens' home). Owens often called it the "freight train sound." While mainstream country, centered in Nashville, was being sweetened, smoothened and softened with strings and choral backing, Owens and the band were perfecting a spare, edgy, twangy, energetic honky-tonky sound with a driving ("freight train") beat and the kind of close duet harmony often found in bluegrass. The sound was so irresistible that even though Owens felt like they were doing almost the same song over and over, it worked over and over.

A listen to this album shows that the Bakersfield Sound allows for a pleasing variety, just the same, with a mix of laments, ballads, celebrations, and the famous "Orange Blossom Special," an up-tempo showcase for fiddle, well suited, with its imitation of the train it's named for, to the "freight train" sound.

Though Owens sings lead on most of the songs, the rest of the band, simply known as "the boys" at this point, also get to be out front. Owens' musical soulmate and best friend, Don Rich, takes the lead vocal on one song, and also solos on the fiddle for "Orange Blossom Special," in addition to playing lead electric guitar on most of the other cuts. Kenny Pierce, later recognized as one of the best electric bass players in country music, sings lead on a cut, and pedal steel player Jay McDonald takes the lead vocal on another, along with a lead solo on guitar for the instrumental "Release Me." Only drummer Ken Presley doesn't take a turn, but his work is treated well by the up front recording.

The sound of this album is unusually plain and clear. Owens and his producer Ken Nelson wanted his albums to sound good on AM radio, so they were bright in the treble and shy in the bass. This was still early days for stereo in pop music, most records still being listened to in mono, so the stereo mix, which was often just an afterthought, is simple, with the vocals in one channel and the instruments mostly in the other. These production techniques and the spare arrangements keep everything clearly audible.

This CD has two bonus cuts, duets with Rose Maddox from 1963 that were released as the A and B sides of a single, both sides Top 20 hits. You can hear why Maddox was known as the "Hillbilly Filly," with her rough, down-home vocal styling. Some of "the boys" play on these cuts, with the result that the songs fit very well with the rest of the album.