Gunfighter Ballads & Trail Songs [EXTRA TRACKS] [ORIGINAL RECORDING REISSUED] [ORIGINAL RECORDING REMASTERED]

Marty Robbins

Product Details

• Audio CD (October 19, 1999)
• Original Release Date: 1959
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Extra tracks, Original recording reissued, Original recording remastered
• Label: Sony
• ASIN: B0000296J9
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars See all reviews (77 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #936 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

  Popular in these categories: (What's this?)

  #2 in	Music > Country > Classic Country > Nashville Sound
  #3 in	Music > Country > Cowboy

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com
A lonely Westerner in Nashville, Marty Robbins salved his soul by cutting an album (in one afternoon) of mostly self-composed cowboy ballads. One of them was a four-and-a-half-minute epic, "El Paso," that broke every rule of Top 40 programming to become a No. 1 pop and country hit in 1960. Robbins was arguably the most surefooted and accomplished singer in all country music, and that was never more obvious than on these Western ballads performed to often breathtaking perfection with a very small group and a vocal trio. Other titles include "Big Iron" (also a Top 30 hit), "Running Gun," and Western classics like "Cool Water," "Billy the Kid," and "The Strawberry Roan." Three extra tracks flesh out the 1999 release, including "Saddle Tramp" (the B-side of "Big Iron") and "The Hanging Tree" (title song from the 1959 Gary Cooper Western). --Colin Escott

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

95 of 101 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Real West, May 15, 2000

By	Kurt Harding "bon vivant" (Boerne TX) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

First I'd like to say I absolutely despise most of the swabby, commercial garbage played on most so-called Country and Western stations today. Have a singer whine and sing through his nose, throw in a little fiddle and some stupid lyrics and presto: instant country music which is rarely more than pop music with a twang.Those who want to hear what real country/western is all about have only a few contemporary artists like Junior Brown or Dwight Yoakam to listen to or they have to go back to the old masters.Marty Robbins is a western native who put the "western" in C&W music and his album "Gunfighter Ballads and Trail Songs" is the vehicle with which he accomplishes that.Any one who loves the west can't help being moved by the collection of timeless classics on this album. Frankly, though its a great song, I am tired of El Paso.There are many equally good songs here. The listener will conjure images of the frontier days with the fantastic Big Iron, His Master's Call and the Hanging Tree. Anyone who has experienced the wide expanses of the intermountain west will appreciate A Hundred and Sixty Acres, Little Green Valley and Cool Water. That those are my favorites doesn't diminish the others.There is little quite like the smooth, rich, manly vocal style of Robbins or the tight play of his band. In the general style, only Gordon Lightfoot is his vocal equal.If you buy only one C&W album in your life, this should be the one for it is the standard against which all others should be measured.

28 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This Will Take You Back, August 30, 2005

By	Kelly L. Norman "lil rock & roller" (Plymouth, MI United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

My dad loved Marty Robbins. I have so many memories of summer nights listening to the stereo playing "Big Iron" or "El Paso" and dad singing along, or actually, talking along, announcing each verse before it came up, sitting in the front yard under a blanket of stars.

Both dad and Marty Robbins are gone now. I never thought of collecting Robbins' albums much until recently, when I became irked at myself for not remembering the lyrics to El Paso. I bought this CD and everything just flooded back. All of these songs are great. "Cool Water", "Billy the Kid"...It was so easy, as a kid, to take Robbins for granted. But now I realize his was a very strong voice. The backup vocals and musicianship, as well as the lonesome-sounding, echoing production, make for a perfect country-western sound.

19 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars 5 Stars for Marty, but thumbs down for Sony!, December 3, 1999

By	Tom Barton (Dallas, Texas) - See all my reviews

Like others who have reviewed this CD, I was first introduced to "Gunfighter Ballads and Trail Songs" by my grandfather and to listen to the songs touches just about every memory I have of him. I have to say that the remastering for CD is nothing short of fantastic. The sounds are all fresh and new, and this is stated by someone who knows every note by heart.

There is a real problem with this CD, in that Sony added some "rare" B-sides. "Saddle Tramp" and "Hanging Tree" are available on other collections. I am sure that Sony could have delved in its vaults and come up with some real gems to add to this collection, such as bits and pieces of the recording session itself (which, in retrospect, seems to be a historic note), alternate takes and the like. Instead, it seems that Sony chose to rehash more of the same material it has used before.

It is a great job on the CD, but a poor choice of "new" material...