Customer Reviews

Big City (Exp)

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This CD is not only one of the top Country discs of all time, it is one of the finest albums of any sort of music I have ever heard! This album has so many truly fine Hag songs it easily could be labeled a greatest hits disc.
You've got the title track, one of the best songs I have ever heard. I mean, put this on after a week of fighting traffic and busting your rear end at work, kick back with a brew, and it will absolutely free your soul! You may even break out a map of Montana and start on down the road. Another brilliant song, although not written by Merle, is "Stop the World and Let Me Off". Though this tune deals with a failed relationship, it is so easy to think of it in a general context, and I don't know how many times in this way-to-busy world that I have just wanted to get off the ride and just do anything but work my tail off all day, every day!
Also outstanding are "I think I'm Gonna Live Forever" and all the others. This is a super, super strong disc worth twice the price.
The fact that you almost never hear Hag on the radio these days is complete bull, and makes me sick! Instead, it's whoever's wearing the tightest jeans and the biggest hat that gets all the airplay. This is just the same as it would be to not put George Washington in U.S. History books folks. But heck don't just play Haggard on the radio for old times sake, play him because his music just kicks the you know what out of 99 percent of the junk coming over todays airwaves.
This CD has much of the best of the best of Merle. I can not recommend it enough. It's unbelievable that there are only a couple of reviews for this CD!

Hag's voice deepened to where his version of "You Don't have very far to go" sounds wholly different than his earlier versions. He uses his voice like Sinatra did to convery nuances other singers don't get to. The sound on this is terrific too. Get this and Serving 190 Proof, the woefully underrated work that is selling at a bargain basement price. Also, get Hag's "If I could only fly" to hear what he can do today. A great songwriter, musician, and singer.

Arguably Merle's best album of the Epic years, this is a no-filler, must-have for any serious student of country music. The remastered disc sounds superb and is worth the price if you've got the older cd issue. I dispute the reviewer who asserts that Haggards Epic years were wasted with the exception of this classic. The Epic albums do have a different sound than the earlier Capitol years but that's only a natural progression of a man entering his 40's in a time when Nashville was swinging back to the "Urban Cowboy" pop period. Merle never gave in to the "Big City" sound and this album stands in clear contrast to much of what filled the airwaves then...and now. Pick it up and thank me later.

This may well be the finest of many excellent albums that Merle has recorded. The album yielded three major country hits - the title track (about a man in the city yearning to return to the country), My favorite memory (a very romantic song) and Are the good times really over (remembering the fifties).

There are plenty of other high quality songs too, including Good old American guest (a brilliant train song), I think I'm gonna live forever (about being glad that a failed relationship is over), Stop the world and let me off (about being upset that a failed relationship is over - this is a cover of a song most commonly associated with Patsy Cline), You don't have very far to go (a song that Merle wrote in the sixties) and I always get lucky with you (an excellent way to finish the original album.

As a bonus, this re-mastered edition includes two previously unreleased bonus tracks (Call me, I won't give up my train) - so there is more music than before and the sound is also improved. What more could anybody want? I think that this is an outstanding album by a country music legend.

This album was the one that got me really loving country music. The title track is one of his best songs ever. It's an album you can listen to over and over.

If I had to pick just one Merle Haggard album to listen to, this is it. All the songs are great and Hag's voice is solid. One of the classic albums in country music. If you like his voice, you need this album.

It is hard to imagine a better Haggard disk. Every track superb.

All the alt-country, neo-folk, new-Americana wannabees out there trying to carry the torch better listen closely to this 1981 Hag classic for how this should be done. The big man's songwriting was peaking, introspective and personal as usual, but with good humor, wit, and class at the same time. Hag's infatuation with western swing was also growing, and was used to great effect here, highlighting and illustrating the lyrics without sounding intrusive. The production is minimal and clean, and really sounds great. The title track, his raucous song about ridin' the rails ("Good Old American Guest"), and many others make this a superior collection that stands the test of time. Thank you Merle!

Merle Haggard has always been one of best country singers I know (the others, of course are Waylon Jennings and Willie Nelson). Merle's awesome voice and style are unbeaten. The lyrics of Big City album is touching. Especially I like songs "Are the good times really over" and "This song is mine".
In this album we can hear the voice of experience. Absolutely great. Special thanks to Norm Hamlet, steel guitar.

Wish Coke was still Cola and a joint was a bad place to be.

Listen to the Master.