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Gold

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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

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.

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

If you're already a Hank Sr fan and already own most of the songs listed on this CD, don't listen to the other reviews that claim there's no need to buy this. The quality of the remaster alone makes it worth the purchase, but there are different (live) versions of the same songs I already have on other CD's on here. I won't completely pick it apart, but for instance LOST HIGHWAY is completely different than the version on "40 Greatest Hits", its a live version that apparently was from THE HEALTH AND HAPPINESS SHOWS. By the way, when you buy it, keep your old ones too. Sometimes it's nice to hear the snap crakle and pop of the analog versions, reminds me of listening to the old 78's 40yrs ago........

What can you say about Hank Williams other than he was great. This CD contains all his familiar hits along with a nice collection of songs he sings with just his acoustic guitar and no accompaniment.

Hank's most popular songs all on one CD. I was thrilled because it has been so long since I've heaed a good CD. I bought a used cd at one point and it was terrible. Growing up with Hank's songs was great, but to hear him sing again almost like he was right here.I am extremely pleased with this gold of Hank Williams Amazon supplied three different CDs and I actually love them all. If I should decide in the future I want music of a different artist I will go to Amazon first. Oh yeah the prices were almost unbelievable compared to the cost here in Edmonton , Alberta.I would definately recommend Amizon to anyone.

There are many Hank Williams compilations out there, but this has to be the best one that I've come across. All of the big hits are here, and there's even a hard-to-find original version of "There's a Tear In My Beer", before Jr. overdubbed new music and added his vocals to make it a duet. There were some surprises on this disc, as there are many songs that I had not heard before. Hearing them for the first time was definitely a treat. As for the singer, himself, what else can be said that hasn't been said about Hank Williams? He is a country music legend, and for good reason. Although many country singers that came after him may have had a greater singing range or may have had the movie-star looks, nobody, but nobody, ever sang a song like Hank Williams. Perhaps only Johnny Cash and Marty Robbins had a voice as unique as Hank's. When Hank sang a song, especially a sad one, it really sounded like he was describing the way he was feeling. His marital issues, compounded by his drinking problem, probably helped him to sound this way, I'm sure. He wore his sadness on his sleeve, but he also showed us the happy side. Just listen to "Jambalaya" or "Setting the Woods on Fire". He sounds confident and really seems like he is enjoying singing the songs. Hank was a complex person and his music, although it sounds simple by today's standards, was equally complex. Sorrow, joy, good, bad, life, and death...they're all recurring themes in Hank's songs. Almost 60 years after his untimely death in the hills of West Virginia, Hank is still a legend. Chances are, 60 years from now, he still will be.

This CD set is pretty awesome - bought one for work, one for the car, now am ordering a third for home. The more I listen the more I like.

I know many of these songs from my early pop idols of the late 1950s and early 1960s, people like Rick Nelson and Johnny Tillotson. When Rick's career as a teen idol collapsed in the mid-1960s, he went into what was commonly known as rockabilly, and sung several of Hank's songs very creditably with James Burton putting down some brilliant lead guitar work. Then John Fogerty from Creedence Clearwater Revival made an album featuring some of them when CCR broke up (the first Blue Ridge Rangers set - see my review). I also bought, and liked a lot, the Glen Campbell set - I Remember Hank Williams. But, I never tried the original, even though I know quite a bit about him. I guess it was partly a prejudice against country music, let's face it - country music from the mid-60s on is very much an acquired taste! But, also the technical quality of the available recordings was poor. But now, in Hank Williams Gold, we have a fantastic sampling of his work in better than decent audio.

To have written, and had hits with, so many definitive songs by his death at 29, suggests that not only was Hank a genius, but also he had a lifetime's worth of experience! I've always liked tunes, from Mozart, thru Tin Pan Alley, to the Beatles - so this collection of Hank's is just a joy to me. Then there's the words - Hank loved to tell stories - covering heartache, booze, and a lot of very witty and ironic humour. Combine that with an electrifying charisma, and a voice utterly attuned to the task in hand, and you can understand why the guy was such an enormous hit - and not just with the country set. He wrote some pretty good blues too - as evidenced on this CD.

I don't really have a good reason to not have bought any of Hank's recordings before. After all, Rick Nelson had a huge hit with My Bucket's Got a Hole in it about six years after Hank's version - and I bought Rick's. Don't you make the same mistake! Do yourself a favour and buy Hank Williams: Gold.

Started getting into Hank after listening to outlaw country on Sirius. Damn, this may be the best album I have ever purchased. I am usually long written, but I don't think I can find the words to describe how good this album. It would be like trying to describe a great steakhouse, with mc donalds terms. So I will leave it at wow.