Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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29 of 29 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Part of the Original Singles Collection, January 4, 2003
Let's get the negative stuff out of the way first. For the material included in this collection, it is wonderful. My problem with it (and, it would seem, I am not the only one) has to do with the material NOT included. OK, a set called THE ORIGINAL SINGLES COLLECTION would not be expected to include demos or live recordings, but there were many songs released as singles that were left off. The songs recorded as Luke the Drifter are ignored ("Ramblin' Man", originally a Luke the Drifter single, was reissued and credited to Hank Williams as the B-side of "Take These Chains From My Heart" in July, 1953), as are many of the songs released as singles credited to "Hank Williams and His Guitar". While some of those songs appear here, some really good ones like "Faded Love and Winter Roses" and "Please Don't Let Me Love You" (released as both sides of the same single in 1955) were overlooked.But enough with the problems with this set. What we do have in this collection is a chronological journey through the studio recordings that Hank released under his own name during his brilliant and tragically short career. Listening to this material in order, one can hear the development of a true artist and pioneer. When Hank first started recording, electric instruments and drums were all but taboo in country records. After Hank, they were almost mandatory. His vocal delivery, while heavily colored with his southern accent, never sounded forced or affected. He just seemed to be doing what he was born to do. The writing is top-notch, for the most part. There are some very clever hooks in many songs and, as a lyricist, Hank wrote in simple language, but he did it so cleverly that even intellectuals could appreciate it (pay attention to the lyrical symmetry in "I Won't Be Home No More" for an example of this). The sound quality is variable in this set. The first few tracks (recorded as early as 1942) sound pretty bad by modern standards. Even early MGM recordings, such as 1948's "Mansion on the Hill" leave something to be desired. But as time passed and Hank's popularity (and, probably, recording budget) grew, the quality improved dramatically. The studio recordings from the early 1950s actually sound pretty good from a technical perspective and brilliant from an artistic one. The book included gives good background on the recordings as well as the artist. A nice extra for the set. This collection is a very good introduction to the music of an American treasure and I recommend it highly. But be warned. After listening to this, you will very probably want to go out and buy the 10-disc COMPLETE* HANK WILLIAMS. This stuff really is that good.
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17 of 19 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Would rate it 10 stars if I could. The best set ever!, March 28, 2004
Hank Williams will always be the King of Country Music! No matter how hard CMT tries to make Johnny Cash look better or to seem more important, even the legacy of Johnny Cash in a hundred years, will fall short of that of Hank Williams". They placed Cash at #1 all time on their top 40 Men of country Music, with Hank at # 2. They gave Cash five songs and Hank only four in their best 100 songs of Country music, and made sure to place Cash's highest ranking song just ahead of Hank's. And gave Cash the #1 video of all time with "Hurt" and placed the historic "There's a Tear in my Beer" duet with Hank JR. all the way down at #18. This only makes CMT look uncreditable and silly. This set and especially "The Complete Hank Williams" put to shame "The Essential Johnny Cash 1955-1983" and his new "Unearthed" set. As much as I love Johnny Cash,(I actually believe that Merle Haggard is more talented and influential to pure Country music than anyone but Hank)Hank Williams will always be the reason Country made it to the mainstream and stayed there. NOW, What I am about to say is very important. If you are looking for a Hank set for yourself or as a gift for someone else, this is the one to get. Let me explain. "The Complete Hank Williams", lets face it, is not very affodable and would only be respected by a true Die Hard. "40 Greatest Hits", though very good, really needed to be extended, as was done here. "The Ultimate Collection" is harldly that, with the last five or six songs not being the original studio versions, but live recodings, and replacing some of the stadards from "40 Greatest Hits" with demos. The demos are great, but don't sacrifice the popular session songs for them. The U.K. box set "Hillbilly Hero", is great for the price, but it only goes through 1951, the 4th disc is Health and Happiness shows, which are nice to have, the problem is they are in place of all of his recodings from 1952. "Original Singles Collection" is great for what it includes as well for what it does not. It contains all the singles released under the name Hank Williams, which is almost every thing. It excludes, with the exception of one or two, the "Luke the Drifter" songs, which were more spoken than sung, and duets with Audery, which were over powered by her less than perfect voice. Those, as well, really throw off the rotation, they are better listend to by them selves. "Ramblin Man" is here because it is sung the all the way, and was re-released under Hank's name after his death in 1953. This set has alot of great demos but does not sacrifice any standards to place them there, and they are at the end of disc three so they don't interupt the flow of things. If you only had one set of one artist in all of popular music, this would be the one to have. Hank Williams was the best singer/songwriter ever and is the most important and influential artist in all of popular music. This set shows why.
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9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
awesome box set with some pros and some cons, December 22, 2002
By A Customer
Alright. This a fine and dandy box set, let's check out the pros and cons.
Pros:
*84 tracks, hey - that's a lot of music. 64 singles that include pretty much everything Hank every released plus 20 demos and unreleased tracks.
*the liner notes are very good. they include a bio of Hank's life and information on the release of each single.Cons:
*The quality on two songs is bad. They are "I'm not Coming Home Anymore" and "Something Got a Hold of Me." These two song really [are bad] quality-wise and are painful to listen to. I don't know why there is a seperate credit for the company that remastered "I'm not Coming Home Anymore" because the team that handled that should be [fired]. Some stuff was unreleased for a reason, guys.
*Packaging, it's in a double-cd case. I'd prefer a box.
*It doesn't include the Luke the Drifters (with the exceptions "Please Make Up Your Mind" and "Ramblin' Man") or Audrey duets (with the exception of "Something Got a Hold of Me") - this isn't really a problem for me since I don't like the luke the drifter monologues, only Ramblin' Man is good..and, as proven by the one duet here, Audrey sucked - so I don't miss those either. All in all this is a great box set. Pick it up if you want a great overview better than "40 Greatest" and less than "Complete Hank"
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~ Hank Williams Sr.
~ Johnny Cash
by Colin Escott
~ Bob Dylan
~ Merle Haggard
by Hank Williams 
