Customer Reviews

Beyond the Sunset

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3 star:		(1)
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This is quite an intersting album. While there are no hits aside from "Ramblin' Man" and maybe "Everything's OK", that doesn't seem what these "Luke the Drifter" songs are about. "Beyond the Sunset" which is the complete works of Hank Williams Sr. under the guise of "Luke the Drifter" is his plea for old fashioned sensibility, the sublime understanding that everyone is suffering, that clouded perspectives and lack of forgiveness are the main reasons for this suffering, and that we are all in this together. Not much singing, as much of this is spoken word over the guitar or organ, yet still very much a lyrical album.

While this may not be a good introduction to Hank Williams, it is a must for anyone who has come to love his talents and appreciate his very special contribution to American music.

This CD is a must have for country music and Hank fans as it contains 12 of his "Luke The Drifter" recordings, many of them are recitations. Some of the songs deal with pain, such as "Men With Broken Hearts," I've Been Down That Road Before," and "The Funeral" and good things in life, such as the title track and "Everything's Okay." The other songs are just as great and feature Hank as a great poet. This is classic country and recitations at their best.

Hank Sr. preaches like no one I've ever heard before. This album features lessons that everyone needs to learn, especially children. Treating your fellow man with kindness, love and loss, what goes around comes around, be happy with what you have, etc, etc... But the way Hank tells these stories and sings these songs is masterful. I love this album and I listen to it whenever I'm feeling like life is unfair. It makes me smile every time, and it makes me appreciate the things I have. In short, if you like real country music, I HIGHLY recommend this one. Worth every cent.

This is now my favorite Williams album. A greatest hits collection is a better place to get acquainted, but cannot come close to the heartbreak of this album. "Move It On Over" and "I Saw the Light" are great songs, but they don't have the power of "I Dreamed About Mama Last Night" or "The Funeral". This is one of the saddest albums of all time, a strangely prophetic portrait of Williams, as these recordings as Luke the Drifter can represent his final epitaph. Its amazing how an artist as young as Williams was could record such a beautiful and mature work. As for the music itself, it contains some of Williams' best compostitions. The organ work on "The Funeral" and the steel guitar on several tracks are perfectly done. The album is about a mythical drifter - too much like Williams himself. No other country artist (with the exception of Johnny Cash) is as masterful and influential as Hank Williams Sr. This is true American music.

Words cannot describe the beauty of the song "Beyond the Sunset". However, I would like to see a person who is not acquainted with Hank listen to his other albums first. This is a little morose for those who don't understand Hank Williams.

This is a fantastic album that is a must for all Hank Williams fans.
You will hear songs here that are real, and touching. Who could perform these songs as Hank did? Nobody. Songs like Picture From Life's Other Side, Help Me Understand, Beyond The Sunset, are as relevant now as they were the day they were written. Sung by the Master. Don't deny yourself the opportunity of hearing these masterpieces. They are performances that, once you hear them, you will never forget.

So many people don't know or have never heard Hank Williams Sr. do these songs. The upbeat, honky-tonk songs are still on the jukeboxes, but these resitations are deep in the heart of Hank. They offer, as Hank wrote, lifes other side. And that's just what you will get here.
A must for anyone who really wants to try and understand the man. Most of these songs were released under the name "Luke the Drifter" so that he could have an outlet to record these songs without interfering with his better known recording persona. But they are so hauntingly beautiful and gives us a look at the more private and personal side of the man.
Truly beautiful music...and on this, the 54th anniversary of his lonesome passing.

As Colin Escott said, there were really two Hanks- the Saturday night Hank and the Sunday morning Hank. In the end, Saturday night won the day- acute alcoholism weakened him until his heart just gave out in the backseat of a car on New Year's Eve 1952.
This strange, haunting disc is the songs of a world without interstate highways, air conditionning, the polio vaccine, and civil rights. Yet songs like "Everything's Okay" echo the optimism that the common man had to embrace if he was to cope with life's troubles. "I Dreamed About Mama Last Night" is simply beautiful, and Ramblin' Man is positivly haunting.

Hard to know what to compare this recording with, but I found it mesmerising. Maudlin, trite and patronising and impossible to reconcile with Hank's better known work. But all the more compelling for that. An essential CD for anyone with more than a passing interest in him and his life.

So you've bought 40 Greatest Hits or 20 Greatest Hits and you'd really like to know a bit more about Hank before you consider buying "The Complete Hank Williams"? Well, Mercury has re-released this classic late 50's LP on CD just the way Hank recorded them-undubbed mono. You get true classics like "Picture From Life's Other Side", "I Dreamed About Mama Last Night" (later covered by Wilma Lee & Stoney Cooper), "I've Been Down That Road Before" (a song full of humor, but good advice) and many other great selections. The only gripe I have with this set is the fact "No, No Joe" is not included which was a hilarious Luke the Drifter (Hank's "alter-ego") release from the early 50's. But, buy it anyway! Two thumbs up to Mercury for this one!