Customer Reviews

Best of

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

After being on the pop charts from 1956 to 1959 Hamilton moved to country music in 1960.
His first release "Before the day ends" was a top ten hit.
He continued to have country songs chart every year, except for 2 years, for 19 years.
Between 1960 to 1978 he had 40 songs on the country chart.
His music from the mid 60's reflect a folk influence,
with his recordings of some Gordon Lightfoot songs.
When a decline in his chart success starting about 1970, he began touring the world.
He had many widely acclaimed international performances that earned him the nickname,
"The international Ambassador of country music".
He has hosted several telvision programs in the UK and Canada.
This is a decent collection of the 'country side' of George Hamilton the 4th.

This is the track listing:
1. "Abilene" 1963 - top ten hit.
2. "Break my mind" 1967 - top ten hit.
3. "Early morning rain" 1966 - top ten hit.
4. "Steel rail blues" 1966 - top 20 hit
5. "Urge for going" 1967 - top ten hit.
6. "Second cup of coffee" 1973 - top 100.
7. "Canadian Pacific" 1969 - top 40 hit.
8. "Anyway" 1971 - top 20 hit.
9. "Travin' light" 1972 - top 100.
10. "10 Degrees & getting colder" 1972 - top 40 hit.
11. "Carolina in my mind" 1969 - top 40 hit.
12. "She's a little bit country" 1970 - top ten hit.
13. "West Texas highway" 1971 - top 40 hit.
14. "Country music in mysoul" 1975 - top 100.
15. "A rose and a Baby Ruth", originally his 1956 top ten 'pop' hit,
BUT THIS VERSION is his 1964 'country' re-make.
16. "I'm gonna be a country boy again" 1969.
17. "My Nova Scotia home" 1970.
18. "Everything is beautiful" 1970.
19. "Both sides now".
20. "Streets of London".
21. "Together alone".
22. "Crystal chandeliers".

For conveince of this information,
this track listing is arranged differently than on the album.
From #1 through #14 are songs that made the country chart.
Number: 15 "A rose and a Baby Ruth" is his 1964
'country' re-make of his 1956 'pop' hit.
Numbers: 16 - 17 - 18 are b-sides of a charted song.
Numbers: 19 - 20 - 21 - 22 are album cuts.
14 of 22 songs are on the country chart.

"Abilene" was his only #1 country hit in 1963, it also went to #15 pop.
Hamilton is always easy listening music.
Among the song not included here, Hamilton has an additional 20 top 40 country hits,
4 of them made the top ten.
Because of that, this would not really be a 'Best of' c.d.,
but that sort of collection of Hamilton's music has not been easy to find.
The liner notes give a two page overveiw of Hamilton's career.

Produced by Sony/BMG Int'l in 2006.
ALL ORIGINAL RECORDINGS, EXCEPT FOR "A rose and a Baby Ruth"

Footnote: THIS c.d. is EXACTLY the same set of songs that's on the more pricey,
"Country boy, Best of" c.d. by Camden International in 1999,
which currantly starts at $24.00 used and up.
The songs are just arranged differently.
That cover has an all green background,
Hamiltom is in a dark jacket, in front of a microphone, holding a guitar.

This CD has all the old favorites I've been searching for over the past 30 years. All are original recordings, and most or all of the songs are super! Perhaps the best CD for the money I've ever purchased!

Although some of his hits are not here, there are some fine original recordings: Gordon Lightfoot's
"Early Morning Rain" and "Second Cup Of Coffee" along with Joni Mitchell's "Urge For Going" and "Both
Sides Now."

Of course, "Abilene" and "A Rose And A Baby Ruth" are the songs most identified as George Hamilton IV
songs, there are other really good songs on this cd-"Crystal Chandeliers", "Country Music In My Soul",
"Canadian Pacific", "Break My Mind" and others.

For the price, this is a really good piece of folk/pop/country music.

George is 7.5 years older than I am, but I do remember when he first made the record charts in '56 with "A Rose and a Baby Ruth." I was about 11, just beginning to understand my own musical tastes, which ranged from rock to Broadway to folk and country, just as they do today (with the addition of jazz, Hawaiian, and much more.) I liked the skinny kid I saw on TV, but didn't buy any of his records. Jump ahead to April of 1968...now I'm in the Army, on my pre-Vietnam 30-day leave. I spent it in Nashville, where my girlfriend was a student at Vanderbilt. I rented a room at Johnny's Cash Market, which definitely had no connection with the real Johnny Cash. It was a slum. I had very little money, but for free my girl and I got to see a recording session by Homer and Jethro, produced by Chet Atkins; a debate on civil rights between William F. Buckley and Jullian Bond (just a few nights after Martin Luther King was killed in Memphis) and an intimate church-related coffee house concert by George Hamilton IV. All I really knew of George was the "Baby Ruth" song, and my girl was not much of a country fan, but she agreed to go with me. To our surprise, George and his band spent the night trying out his versions of Gordon Lightfoot and Joni Mitchell songs, which we did know a bit about, and loved. George was one of the first Nashville-based artists to see the folk-rock trend and champion these songwriters. Years later, I bought one of his LP's on RCA Victor that had those songs on it, as well as some more traditional folk numbers, including a super version of "Darcy Farrow." At the '68 Nashville concert, there were maybe 30 members of the audience, and George sat about six feet from me. I have been a fan ever since, and when my LP wore out, I began looking for a CD to replace it. This one is the best combination of folk-style songs and price I have been able to locate. Mr. Hamilton is not a "power" vocalist, nor a protest voice. His singing, however, is sincere, pleasant and skilled. For the most part, I like singer/songwriter versions as done by the originators, but for "cover" versions, George's are in the top rank, different from, but as competent as, Tom Rush's treatment of Mitchell tunes, or Marty Robbins' handling of Lightfoot classics. They do not leap from the CD player and demand "Listen to this" but they grow on you with repeat play. If you like country/folk/rock/pop songs not aimed at top 40 radio, invest in this disc. I've been told that George was quite popular in both Britain and Japan when he no longer charted big in the USA, and I believe it. They guy I saw that night in Nashville had winning talent and a wonderful personality, and deserves to have his best work heard by a new generation.