Customer Reviews

Hillbilly Hero

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

 

 

The only problem with this set is that it does not include some late 1951 or any 1952 recordings. For the price it is still great. However, you will need to pick up some sort of less expensive set to round it off with the great '52 songs. Some pretty big Hank standards were recorded that year, including, Your Cheatin Heart and Take These Chains From My Heart, as well, as many others. If you already have a basic Hank Collection with the big stuff from '52, then this may be the way to go. The Luke the Drifter and Audrey duets seem to throw off the rotation a bit, which is why I will always reccomend Original Singles Collection, which contains all the singles released under the name Hank Williams(all of '52 included)plus, many great unreleased demos on the second half of the thrid disc. You can pick it up used on Amazon for a similar price as this set. Even if you buy it new, it will be worth it.

This boxset is better then the expansive Complete Hank Williams set and about 75% cheaper. On 3 cds, each one is over 70 minutes long, you get every song that you need to hear from Hank Williams. The fourth is the Health and Happiness shows, while I didnt prefer those too much-hearing Hank talk is awesome. His voice is so cool and a good live performer. This is a essential set, a might buy for a music lover.

This is a very good overview of the work of the Late Great Immortal Hank Williams. It includes some of his greatest hits and some great songs that were not hits. Along with rarities and 1 cd of Hank's live Health and Happiness radio shows you get a complete picture of the mans work. I especially liked the 52 page booklet that contains an unvarnished account of the life of Hank Williams and a outstanding discophraphy. To get this much music and information for such a small price in this age of overpriced products is indeed a pleasant surprise.

I have had this wonderful box set for less than a month, and I'm already beginning to wear out the 4 wonderful discs. For the amount of money it costs, this is the greatest box set ever assembled, and I'm sure of it. These 4 magnificent compact discs, cool cardboard case, and excellent booklet cost less than 25 dollars! Although the first cd starts off a bit weak, and the forth cd has some songs that aren't Hank's best, 90% of the songs in this collection are absolutely impeccable! Before I purchased this collection, I knew that Hank Williams was excellent, but I had no idea that he was a god. How on earth did such a simple and uneducated man write these lyrics?! Some of the poetry in these songs, especially on the depressing and melancholy tunes, is comparable to the work of all of Europe's greatest classical writers and poets. If you have the "40 Greatest Hits" cd, you should still buy this! This is because the demos at the end of disc three contain some of Hank's best lyrics, and these songs are not included on "40 Greatest Hits". There is more to Hank Williams than just his hits! He doesn't just have great party songs, he also has extremely dark and cryptic songs about death and misery, and glorious and heavenly spiritual tunes. In conclusion, Hank Williams belongs up there with Robert Johnson, Louis Armstrong, Blind Willie Johnson, Blind Lemon Jefferson, Son House, Django Reinhardt, Bessie Smith, Louis Jordan etc. In other words, Hank too, was the blues; and he was a god!

The music contained herein is a great overview of Hank Williams' earlier work and includes many hits and many obscure tunes.

If you're a fan of toe-tappin' early country music or if you're a fan of the great Hank Williams Sr., then this set is definitely for you.

The sound quality is very good (although a few of the Health & Happiness show transcriptions are a mite scratchy, as are a couple of other tunes) and there a nice booklet all about Hank and the music.

"Hillbilly Hero" is another fantastic value from the folks at Proper. How they manage to produce such great sets at such a low price is a mystery to me but I hope they never stop.

I have had this wonderful box set for less than a month, and I'm already beginning to wear out the 4 wonderful cd's. For the amount of money it costs, this is the greatest box set ever assembled, and I'm sure of it. These 4 magnificent cd's, cool cardboard case, and excellent booklet cost less than 25 dollars! Although the first cd starts off a bit weak, and the forth cd has some songs that aren't Hank's best, 90% of the songs in this collection are absolutely impeccable! Before I purchased this collection, I knew that Hank Williams was excellent, but I had no idea that he was a God. How on earth did such a simple and uneducated man write these lyrics?! Some of the poetry in these songs, especially on the depressing and melancholy tunes, is comparable to the work of all of Europe's greatest classical writers and poets. If you have the "40 Greatest Hits" cd's, you should still buy this! This is because the demo's at the end of disc three contain some of Hank's best lyrics, and these songs are not included on "40 Greatest Hits". There is more to Hank Williams than just his hits! He doesn't just have great party songs, he also has extremely dark and cryptic songs about death and misery, and glorious and heavenly spiritual tunes. In conclusion, Hank Williams belongs up there with Robert Johnson, Louis Armstrong, Blind Willie Johnson, Blind Lemon Jefferson, Son House, Django Reinhardt, Bessie Smith, Louis Jordan etc. In other words, Hank too, was the blues; and he was a God!

This CD is one of the best Hank Williams greatest hit's albums I've seen around. It's got almost all of his most popular songs such as; "I'm so lonesome I could cry," "Long gone lonesome blues," "Jambalaya," "I Saw The Light," etc as well as many rarer songs and Luke the Drifter songs. Though it is still not complete. It is missing a few well-known songs like "Your Cheatin' Heart," "Angel of Death," and a few others. And there are a whole lot of other not so well known songs that are not featured on the album that are really good, such as; "Alone and foresaken," "Please don't let me love you," "Someday you'll call my name," "I can't escape from you," among a few others. I definitely reccomend buying this CD though and then picking up the slack with other greatest hits albums, the album "Alone and Foresaken," and other Hank Williams albums that features rare songs/demos.

This sounds like a wonderful boxed set. But there are not song samples available with the CD song list, so one cannot hear ahead of time, what the sound quality will be. It would be helpful to have the sample link available. Older recordings can vary so much in sound listenability.

PS (added June 2007)

I did order this, and the sound quality is very excellent.

This will give the casual listener some songs he may never have heard as well as the old Hank standards, but is not to be confused with The Complete Hank Williams boxed set. For some reason the songs recorded in 1952(and others) are not included. If this is not important to you, this is a great value at less than $20. The quality of the recording is excellent as is the packaging. Check out the other sets from Proper Records as each is a great value.Eddy's Song

I'm really impressed by this 4 CD collection. Apart from his last 1952 the CD's covers Hank Williams' entire career. hough it's slightly frustrating having to look out for his last recordings somewhere else, this is really a great buy. The sound surprisingly good, even the radio acetates from his Health and Happiness shows sound good, and it's very interesting to experience a little of how Williams was a a live performer. The 52 pages booklet contains a detailed biography and a lot of information about Hank's sessions and recordings.

Highly recommended