Customer Reviews

Capitol Collectors Series

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He was born Henry William Thompson on 9/3/25. It seems Hank Thompson was born to sing country music. As a teenager, Hank hosted his very own radio show on WACO in his hometown of Waco, Texas. After a stint in the U.S. Navy in the closing years of World War II Hank would form his own band which he dubbed the Brazos Valley Boys. The group quickly established itself and was extremely popular in Central Texas. In 1946, Hank Thompson inked his very first recording contract with Globe records and immediately had a double-sided hit record. "Whoa, Sailor" b/w "Swing Wide Your Gate Of Love" sold extremely well in the Southwest and attracted the attention of Capitol Records. In October of 1947, Hank would ink a long term deal with Capitol records. Over the next 18 years Hank Thompson would reward Capitol's faith in him by placing nearly 50 singles on Billboard's Top Country Singles chart. 30 of these tunes would hit the Top Ten! In 1989, Capitol records released the disc "Hank Thompson: Capitol Collectors Series" featuring 20 of Hank's biggest and best hits. In my view there has never been a finer compilation of Hank's work.

Hank's first big hit on Capitol was "Humpty Dumpty Heart". Released in early 1948, "Humpty Dumpty Heart' would climb all the way to #2 and remain on the country charts for an incredible 38 weeks. Yes, America was quickly becoming enamored with the sound of western swing and artists like Hank Thompson and of course the legendary Bob Wills were making one great record after another. Enjoy again some of Hank Thompson's most popular recordings like "Rub-A-Dub-Dub", "Squaws Across The Yukon" and his only #1 record "The Wild Side of Life" from the spring of 1952. I might also recommend to you a pair of terrific ballads, namely "Yesterday's Girl" and "Don't Take It Out On Me". You are also sure to enjoy Hank's hilarious 1953 hit "Wake Up, Irene" which was billed as the answer to the Weavers enormously popular single "Goodnight Irene". Perhaps my very favorite song on this disc is Hank's rendition of Woody Guthrie's "Oklahoma Hills" which climbed all the way to #7 back in 1961. All in all, I think most would agree with me that there is not a bad track among the 20 songs included in this collection.

"Hank Thompson: Capitol Collectors Series" comes with an exceptionally well done 16 page booklet featuring biographical information on the artist as well as chart data on each of these tunes. I particularly enjoyed the two-page photo in the center of the booklet that features many of Hank's album covers and 45's. Unfortunately, as I write this review "Hank Thompson: Capitol Collectors Series" is out of print. Hopefully, the folks at Capitol will eventually decide to restore this one to their catalogue. This is a five star disc that I can highly recommend! But if you are unable to locate a copy of this one may I suggest that the 2004 release entitled "A Proper Introduction to Hank Thompson" might well be the best available alternative.

Hank's style, and that Golden Age of C&W that he occupied, are what I like best about Country (I stopped listening to "country" music after 70's Waylon Jennings). Upbeat, honky tonk, swingin' blues and the roots of Rockabilly (Thompson was the first to bring a drum set into the C&W recording studio) are all here on this excellent collection.

I like the stereo recordings best, but they're all classic! Hank's trademark meandering voice, smack-dab country picking, lush lilting steel guitar, sweeping fiddle and playfully jumping honky tonk piano: a great round of solos all within a two-minute musical interval! (You just can't get enough of Six Pack to Go!)

A MUST for "true" C&W fans.

Please note: there are twenty (20) songs on this collection, not 19 as listed in the Amazon ad. Breakin' the Rules actually resides between Wake Up Irene and Honky Tonk Girl.

Although long out of print, this remains the strongest compilation of Hank's music. It contains twenty of his hits from 1947 to 1961, all of which peaked at fourteen or higher on the country charts. Hank's western swing style followed in the tradition of Bob Wills.

As with most singers, there is one song that Hank is remembered for above all others. In his case, that song is Wild side of life. The tune had already been used for to songs in the thirties (Great speckled bird, I'm thinking tonight of my blue eyes) but the lyrics were new. The song depicted women in a poor light and one of their number, Kitty Wells, recorded an answer song (It wasn't God who made honky tonk angels) as a rebuff. It also used the same tune as Great speckled bird, so we ended up with four songs sharing one tune. All four have become country standards and it can get confusing if you think you've hears one of them before but it was actually one of the others that you'd heard.

Hank had many other great hits including Humpty Dumpty heart, Whoa sailor, Yesterday's girl, Don't take it out on me, Blackboard of my heart and Squaws along the Yukon, all among the major country hits to be found here.

If you can find it, this is the Hank Thompson collection to choose.