Johnny Horton - Greatest Hits

Johnny Horton

Product Details

• Audio CD (October 25, 1990)
• Original Release Date: July 7, 1987
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Sony
• ASIN: B0000026AG
• Also Available in: Audio Cassette  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (40 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #53,813 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com
While Louisiana Hayride star Johnny Horton's 1956 Top 10 debut "Honky Tonk Man" strode the line between rockabilly and honky-tonk minimalism, he found his niche in 1959 with a short-lived phenomenon known as the saga song: newly penned tunes, based on or inspired by historical events. The song that rendered Horton immortal? A rousing rendition of folksinger Jimmie Driftwood's War of 1812 number "The Battle of New Orleans," which topped both the country and pop charts for weeks. Riding a winner, Horton kept the momentum going with the Civil War-themed "Johnny Reb," and "Sink the Bismarck," based on a World War II naval battle. He died in a Texas car crash in early November 1960, days before his next single, "North to Alaska" (from the John Wayne film of the same name), hit the charts. While saga tunes understandably dominate this collection, it also includes "Honky Tonk Man" and the ballads "Whispering Pines" and "The Mansion You Stole." There's no better introduction to Horton's seminal recordings. --Rich Kienzle

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

26 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great Compilation Of Johnny's Biggest Hits!, July 15, 2002

By	Barron Laycock "Labradorman" (Temple, New Hampshire United States) - See all my reviews (TOP 50 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

From the time he captured America's heart with a rip-roaring rendition of "The Battle Of New Orleans" until his final release with "North To Alaska", Johnny Horton surprised, delighted and amazed us with his crossover country style, sung with a muted twang. Anyone who listened to his album fell in love with that voice, which was quite distinctive and quite a vehicle for everything he sang. From his plaintive "All For The Love Of A Girl" to a haunting rendition of "Whispering Pines", it was clear he was basically a very talented country singer, whether he was singing something very commercial like "Johnny Reb", "Comanche", or "Sink The Bismark" or something closer to his heart, like "The Mansion You Stole". He had a sense of humor, which he exhibited with songs like "When It's Springtime In Alaska, It's Forty Below". yet it was his range of subjects and versatility in terms of style that we found so attractive and so irresistable. Had he not left us so suddenly, taken from his fans so young, who knows what other treasures he might have left behind. Enjoy!

18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A classic album slightly expanded., August 23, 2000

By	David Kenner (Fort Worth, Texas United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Here's one of the all-time great Country music "Greatest Hits" albums with a baker's dozen of unforgettable pop-country tunes. The late Johnny Horton made a ton of great music during his short time with Columbia records (up until his premature death) and this is a nice sampling. This doesn't contain all of the essentials but everything here is great. And the CD version of this contains an extra track not on the original LP or cassette, the legendary "Honky Tonk Man". (One reviewer on here is reviewing an abridged version of this album that only has 8 songs on it. I've never seen this. I'm not sure he's reviewing the same disc.) At any rate, if you don't already own a Johnny Horton collection, there are a few different Sony compilations available now and this one is just as good as any.

31 of 34 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A Short Life marks a long heritage, January 22, 2000

By	Richard E. Jandrow (Worcester, Massachusetts) - See all my reviews

1 Whispering Pines 2 Mansion You Stole, The 3 I'm Ready, If You're Willing 4 When It's Springtime In Alaska (It's Forty Below) 5 All For The Love Of A Girl 6 Comanche (The Brave Horse) 7 Jim Bridger 8 Johnny Freedom

Johnny Horton died young, the victim of an automobile accident. His death brought to an abrupt end the beginning of what could have been one of the greatest music careers that ever was. This album reflects some of the marks he made on the world of Country Music.

Unfortunately, when this was originally released, there were twelve cuts, now there are only eight. I guess the others weren't great, for instance, they left out, "The Battle of New Orleans", one of the most outstanding hits in the history of the music, "North To Alaska", and "When It's Springtime in Alaska", two of the most definitive changes in his style as he began to leave the historical area and venture into the world of love and feeling; "Sink The Bismark" and "Johnny Reb", two of the songs most representative of his historical era. Why is it that Columbia Records feels that they have to cut the amounts of songs down through the years just because the business, as it stands today, usually releases only eight cuts. It doesn't cost them any more; all their costs were recovered in the first twenty or so releases of this album; it's just plain greed.

With my "bitching" aside, I can still say that any Country and Western or late 50's rock enthusiast would love the album.

The songs that were kept true to country style, in the memory of Hank, are "Whispering Pines", and "The Mansion You Stole", and "All For The Love of a Girl"; each of these reflects the true country nature of it's artist.

The "Historical Hitmakers" are here, as well, thus, fulfilling the dream of the complete Johnny Horton Sound.