Customer Reviews

Complete Mercury Sessions

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

For anyone seeking an intro to bluegrass music this is an essential primer. The work of Scruggs in particular is regarded by the banjo people today as the model of excellence. all of the cuts are first rate. What a bargain!

It's a shame most people can only associate Flatt & Scruggs with the "Beverly Hillbillies" theme song. The rich flavor of their music is a joy to hear. Scruggs banjo is the best there ever was and the strings must have been smokin' after he played "Foggy Mountain Breakdown". This is simple honest and pure music that our American ancestors danced to at the Saturday night barn dance. The singing and harmonies are also top notch with the unmistakable bluegrass heritage. This song packed CD will get alot of playing time on your music box, and you'll wear out a few pair of shoes dancin' to it!

Flatt & Scruggs were the first group to apply tight arrangments, precision, and polish to the genre. This CD contains the start of that process and is a must have for bluegrass fans. I personnally like the "gospel" numbers where Earl Scruggs plays guitar with his three finger style and the group sings gospel 4 part harmony. In the early 60's they had a black and white 30 minute TV show which played on our local station Sunday night. They ended each show with what Lester Flatt would call "our Sacred number", where they would remove their white cowboy hats and Earl would pick up the Guitar. The cuts on this CD remind me so much of those shows, which I would pay a huge price for if anyone would put them out on DVD. If you want to hear the beginnings of what would become the greatest bluegrass band ever, get this CD.

Lester Flatt & Earl Scruggs are two of bluegrass's pioneers and these 28 tracks from their Mercury years are essential listening along with a compilation of their Columbia years such as 16 Biggest Hits or the 2 CD "Tis Sweet Til You Remembered" set or if you are an LP collector, look for either a Time Life vinyl boxed set on Flatt & Scruggs or 20 All-Time Greatest Recordings on Columbia or both (the latter is still in print on cassette though). Although this collection is now out of print and replaced with the less than generous Millennium Collection, this is still an essential CD from these alumni of Bill Monroe's Bluegrass Boys. Of course, the original version of Foggy Mountain Breakdown is here but all 28 songs are classics. They would later re-record Foggy Mountain Breakdown for Columbia and that re-recording although excellent, will not replace the Mercury original from 1949 which is the definitive recording of the song although when the movie Bonnie & Clyde came out, both the original and the Columbia remake did chart. Columbia House still carries it brand new for members to buy as of this writing so members should snatch it up while they can.

... this CD is a work of art.

Ladies and Gentlemen, I've heard music from all around the world; I've heard it all. This is one of my favorite CDs. I love the lyrics. I love the melody. These boys can pick, and they pick well. If I could have met them all, I would have given them a hug for all the hours of joy they've given me. Seriously, along with Bill Monroe and the Blue Grass Boys, and the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, Lester Flatt, Earl Scruggs, and the Foggy Mountain Boys will be one of the best purchases you could ever make.

Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs and The Foggy Mountain Boys / The Complete Mercury Sessions (Mercury): This single disc has the songs Flatt and Scruggs recorded for Mercury (between 1948 and 1950) after they had served their apprenticeship with Bill Monroe's band. Flatt and Scruggs would go on to record many great songs over a period of several years, but the songs on this disc are the foundation on which their carriers are built.
This is a Five Star disc.

For the ultimate fans, check out the huge box sets from Bear Family Records who have collected All of their songs.

IF YOU COULD FINGER PICK LIKE THAT YOU'D BE STANDING UP ON THE STAGE OF THE GRAND OLE OPRY RIGHT NOW, AND THE CROWD WOULD BE GOING WILD. THESE ARE THE ORIGINAL RECORDINGS OF LESTER FLATT AND EARL SCRUGGS AFTER THEY LEFT BILL MONROE'S BAND IN 1948 (ON THE MERCURY LABEL), AND THEY ARE CLASSIC RECORDINGS. IF YOU LIKE COUNTRY AND BLUEGRASS, THIS IS AN ESSENTIAL CD FOR YOUR COLLECTION.

I can't improve on the reviews by "K" and the "Lt. Col. from Warner Robins AFB." They said it just perfectly. Seems like I've been listening to Flatt & Scruggs for all of my life. But I guess it wasn't, because I'll soon be 70. Til the day they "retired" they were the best. Wonderful role models for someone to follow. I saw those TV shows where they would take off their hats in respect for our sacred music. Who would do that today??

When I was in my early twenties, I originally had this collection on two single albums and was concerned about wearing them out or getting them scratched, etc. Now they're on cd and should hopefully last more than a lifetime. This is important because I'm now in my forties and still listening to these ageless recordings. Can you imagine what my original LP's would sound like today after being played countless times?
Anyhow, although every song on this collection is a gem, virtually none have made the country charts, even during the time they were originally released back in the late '40's. This is Flatt and Scruggs at their peak - raw, fast, and furious. Shania Twain, Faith Hill, and all the other psuedo young country performers out there should be forced to listen to this collection until they get it in their money hungry brains that what they are singing is not country music, but nothing different than the schlock that teeny bopper Brittany Spears types are doing.
Do yourself a favor and purchase this ultimate bluegrass and traditional music collection. This is American country music done by real southern Americans. Pure and simple.

This collection predates the fame Flatt and Scruggs were to earn from the theme song to the Beverly Hillbillies by about a decade. One can hear from these cuts, however, the talent that would take "The Ballad of Jed Clampitt" to the top of the crossover charts in the early 1960's. My personal taste rates the secular songs on this CD as being more interesting than the Gospel selections, but everything is worth listening to, more than once. This is the kind of music that can change your mood from melancholy to happy in just a few minutes.If you like Lester and Earl, but only know them from their Columbia issues, give this a try. I think you'll be quite satisfied.