Gold [Original recording remastered]

Hank Williams Sr. | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (June 14, 2005)
• Number of Discs: 2
• Format: Original recording remastered
• Label: Mercury Nashville
• ASIN: B0009NZ3ZU
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (18 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #5,355 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
  • #35 in Music > Country > Roadhouse Country

Editorial Reviews

42 classic recordings by the country/roots music legend every one of his best known songs: "Cold, Cold Heart," "I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry," "Move It On Over," "Lovesick Blues" And much more featuring original studio recordings plus remarkable live performances Great period photos plus liner notes by Grammyr award-winning expert Kira Florita. Mercury. 2005.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

37 of 37 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Same Track Listing/New Title, September 20, 2005

By 

Steve Vrana (Aurora, NE) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Gold (Audio CD)

What follows is my original review for the 2002 release entitled THE ULTIMATE HANK WILLIAMS. Why recycle an old review? The same reason that Mercury Nashville would recycle a collection that they still have in print and retitle it GOLD. The two CDs have identical track listings and they even use the same cover photograph. The only real difference between the two is that GOLD is a couple bucks cheaper.

It's still great music, but I question the record company's motive. Anway, here's my original review:

More than fifty years after his untimely death, Hank Williams' influence is still felt across the landscape of popular music. He is one of the few recording artists to have been inducted into both the COuntry Music Hall of Fame (1961) and the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame (1987). Although regarded principally as a country artist, he was at heart a poet, putting into music and words the heartache, pain and loneliness that ultimately consumed him before his thirtieth birthday.

To not have any Hank Williams in your music collection is to leave a gaping hole. The problem is there are some three dozen anthologies to pick from. Is THE ULTIMATE COLLECTION the best? Maybe not, but it has much to offer. The sound quality is very good. The 28-page booklet has plenty of pictures, serviceable liner notes (written by Kira Florita, co-author of "Hank Williams: Snapshots from the Lost Highway"), and recording dates for all 42 tracks. All the biggest hits are here ("Honky Tonkin'," "Cold, Cold Heart," "Hey, Good Lookin'," "Jambalaya (On the Bayou)," et.al.). There are a couple of his songs recorded as Luke the Drifter, including the weeper, "I Dreamed About Mama Last Night." CD-1 is presented chronologically, but CD-2 skips around after the first four tracks. Also, the last six tracks are radio transcriptions. "Why Don't You Love Me" and "Moanin' the Blues" are from a 1950 Grand Ole Opry Show; the final four tracks are taken from a 1949 WSM "Health & Happiness" radio show. The sound on these final tracks are the equal of his studio recordings and if anything add a more intimate and relaxed feel to these performances in front of a live audience.

Overall, this is an excellent overview of Williams' career, and will more than adequately provide the neophyte fan with an understanding of the legend of Hank Williams. [Running Time: Disc 1-59:29, Disc 2-50:05] HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

18 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars HONKY-TONKING MAN, August 2, 2007

By 

Alfred Johnson (boston, ma) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Gold (Audio CD)

I have been listening to a local weekend folk, rock and contemporary music interview show here in Boston for years. The format of the show is to interview, in depth, contemporary well know singers, songwriters and musicians as well as young unknowns looking to make their mark. One of the questions always asked of each interviewee is about formative influences on their musical development. Although I do not believe that I have ever heard what I would consider a country singer interviewed on the show the name Hank Williams has come up many more times than any other from young and old interviewee alike. When New Age- type musicians are going on and on about brother Williams you know something is up. And that is exactly the point. He has been gone for over fifty years yet those well thought out ballads and `jump' country swing tunes still sound pretty damn good.

Sure that is easy for me to say now. Although I was raised in the North my father was from the South, a hillbilly. This is music that I unconsciously heard at my father's knee. But such tunes as Cold, Cold Heart and You're Cheating Heart that he sung to me as a child were his kind of music. It was not until fairly recently that I got the message. In any case this compilation gives as good a cross section of Hank's work as you are liable to get with a mix of heart-felt ballads, some crossover tunes and, as seemingly inevitably in greatest hits packages, some novelty songs that could have justly been left out. I would note that not all of the many Williams compilations are equal either technically or musically. Here the technical quality is more than adequate and the producers seen to have put in the best back up band versions of his material that they could find. So stop Honky-Tonking and get this album.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars "...I'LL NEVER GET OUT OF THIS WORLD ALIVE" (Hank Williams Gold is an excellent collection of this legend's best music), June 9, 2009

By 

ol' nuff n' den sum (the Virginia coast, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Gold (Audio CD)

To say that the life of Hank Williams has been a major influence on modern music wouldn't be an exaggeration in the least. While it would be impossible to overstate his influence on country music, as a singer-songwriter and maverick poet/artist he has been an instrumental factor in the development of rock n' roll, country-rock and folk music as well.

In 1953, Hank Williams died at age 29 in the back seat of a Cadillac somewhere between Knoxville, Tennessee and Oak Hill, West Virginia while on the way to play a New Year's Day show in Canton, Ohio. Five days later his daughter, Jett Williams, was born. Two weeks later, the last single that he released in his lifetime reached #1 on Billboard's country singles chart. Ironically, the song's title was "I'll Never Get Out Of This World Alive".

Hank Williams Gold (2005) is a 2-disc set that includes 42 digitally remastered songs that pretty well define the legacy that Hank left behind over fifty years ago. You know these songs, too. Your Cheatin' Heart, Jambalaya (On The Bayou), Lovesick Blues, Honky Tonkin', You Win Again, I Saw The Light, Why Don't You Love Me, Honky Tonk Blues, Cold Cold Heart, Kaw-Liga, A Mansion On The Hill, Move It On Over, Mind Your Own Business, Hey Good Lookin', Howlin' At The Moon, Lost Highway, The Angel Of Death, Half As Much, I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry, and many more. This collection also includes a few well-selected live cuts and a number of clean solo demos.

The sound quality is very good on all of the songs here, much better than the other Hank Williams compilations that I've owned. A 28-page booklet that features an essay on Hank, some great photos and song information (including recording dates) is also provided.

I must say here that all of Universal's Gold Series CDs are very high-quality; regardless of the cheap-looking and generic cover layout. They are digitally remastered 2-CD sets with thoughtful song selections and liner notes.

Hank Williams is a country music legend, but to be honest, his songs actually have more in common with the music of Robert Johnson and Woody Guthrie than that of Garth Brooks and Tim McGraw. He wrote about his life, and lived it. There's not a phony word or note to be found anywhere here. Real life, love, loneliness and heartache.

Let me travel this land from the mountains to the sea
Because that's the life I believe He meant for me
And when I'm gone and at my grave you stand
Just say God called home your Ramblin' Man