Look What Thoughts Will Do [BOX SET]

Lefty Frizzell

Product Details

• Audio CD (January 28, 1997)
• Original Release Date: January 28, 1997
• Number of Discs: 2
• Format: Box set
• Note on Boxed Sets: During shipping, discs in boxed sets occasionally become dislodged without damage. Please examine and play these discs. If you are not completely satisfied, we'll refund or replace your purchase.
• Label: Sony
• ASIN: B000002AD4
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #38,465 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com
With his unparalleled dulcet voice, Texas honky-tonker Lefty Frizzell represents the crucial link between traditional country and modern interpreters such as George Jones and Merle Haggard. Frizzell grew up listening to Jimmie Rodgers and borrowed heavily from Rodgers's country-blues approach, infusing his vocals with sweet slurs and melodious slides. Wisely, this 2 CD set focuses on his early creative peak: 22 of the 34 cuts are from 1950 to 1953, adding only highlights of his erratic 1955-1965 work. Frizzell dominated the charts with hits including "If You've Got the Money I've Got the Time" and "Always Late." The two Rodgers covers are superb, as is the previously unreleased ballad "You Can Go On Your Own Way Now." One drawback: The notes make absolutely no mention of the fine musicians that contributed to his organic sound. --Marc Greilsamer

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An elegant package, January 16, 2001

By	N. Dorward "obsessive reviewer" (Toronto, ON Canada) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

I've only recently been listening seriously to country music, so I actually came to this collection backwards, by hearing fine covers of Frizzell tunes (e.g. Iris DeMent's lovely take on "Mom and Dad's Waltz" on her _My Life_). It's one of Columbia's most impressive compilation efforts, & should be enough to turn the head of anyone previously unfamiliar with Frizzell's music. (Columbia has not always been so good about reissues and compilations; they have, for instance, often habitually substituted alternate takes for the originals, a practice that damages their _Essential Bob Wills_ collection & has also on occasion affected albums by Miles Davis, Bill Monroe, Mingus and Ellington. Mercifully they haven't messed around with the music here.) The focus here is mostly on Lefty's early 1950s sides, recorded before the familiar twin devils struck: too much fame too fast, followed by the inevitable bewildering loss of popularity as the decade came to an end and traditional country music lost ground to rock (you can hear him make attempts to modernize his sound in reaction in the last few tracks here--one even has a saxophone solo).

Frizzell's music is most remarkable for two things: first, his lovely voice, its gentle bends and slurs remarkably expressive, almost mesmerizing. It's an unusually intimate sound--singing that seems always to be verging on speech--and it gives many of the songs the flavour of an internal monologue or a confession. The number of singers who copied Frizzell's approach must be countless. Secondly, his abilities as a writer and as an interpreter are second to none, encompassing everything from the bright "If You've Got the Money..." to the painful "Always Late (With Your Kisses)" to the genuinely eerie "The Long Black Veil". The variety here is impressive, as is his ability to handle all the material; a tune like "Mom and Dad's Waltz", which one might expect to be bathetic, turns out to be genuinely moving & emotionally fraught.

There's much more that could be said about this compilation, but I'll leave it there. One of the other reviewers of this set remarks on its rather ungenerous playing time--each disc has about 45 minutes of material. True, yet I don't feel especially irritated by this, given how well-chosen the selection is--there's no filler here--and that the price is modest (the equivalent of purchasing one-and-a-half CDs).

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A decent collection from one of country music's legends!, April 1, 2002

By	Bob Martinez (Brooksville, FL USA) - See all my reviews

I don't understand the bad reviews on this CD. The sound is very good, and it represents every major hit Lefty ever had. This is honky tonk music at its best. My favorites: I Want To Be With You Always, Always Late, Mom and Dad's Waltz, and Cigarettes and Coffee Blues. His major period from 1950-55 is well represented with every hit and a scattering of good hits from 1955-65. The only omission I wish was on here is "My Baby's Just Like Money, which was the flip side to I Want To Be With You Always. 34 hits,nicely packaged with dates etc. and a wonderful documentation of one of the giants of the 20th Century. It's the only Lefty Frizell CD you' d need unless you're a fanatic.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Worth it!, October 19, 2006

By	James Durney (Tampa Bay area) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)

Lefty is one of the great honky tonkers and this set showcases his talents. If you like his music, this is the set to buy. All the major hits and most of his standards are presented in this two CD set. Sound quality is excellent throughout, crisp and clean. It is great fun to put this on, listen and remember those days when this music was not mainstream and did not try to be.

Long Black Viel was taken to the top by others but no one sings it like this. This is a must have set for your collection.