Customer Reviews

Sings Tommy Collins

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Here's Buck Owens singing out the hits of Tommy Collins and Buck was once the lead guitarist for Collins, not surprising Buck was a fine guitar player in his own right. Buck also sang these songs with authority,in his own style with Collins' cleverly written lyrics - listen to, "If You Ain't Lovin' You Ain't Livin'", "It Tickles"," High On The Hilltop", "You Gotta Have A License","Smooth Sailin'", "Down,Down,Down". Buck treats these Tommy Collins' songs as if they were his own, consisting of ballads and uptempo numbers,backed by top-notch "Bakersfield" musicians,featuring grinding steel guitar,a good solid Buck Owens recording on Sundazed,as always excellent audio.

Buck Owens got one of his first breaks in the music business as a guitarist in Tommy Collins' band in the mid-1950s. Collins was a modest success in the country music field, having a handful of hits in 1954 and 1955, and then having one more hit in 1966. After Buck had made it big, he decided to pay tribute to his former boss by recording an album of his songs in 1963, although it's likely that many country music fans had forgotten Collins by then, since he hadn't had a hit in eight years. Anyway, these are good songs, many of them humorous, and Buck does a good job with them. Somewhat surprisingly, Buck doesn't cover Tommy's biggest hit, "You Better Not Do That". "It Tickles" is a duet between Buck and his ex-wife, Bonnie Owens (she plays the girls who say that his mustache tickles when he kisses them). This is not an essential Buck Owens album by any means, but it's a solid album that his fans should enjoy.

Having already established himself as a gifted songwriter, Owens isn't as well-served by this album of covers as he was by his original material. Having spent time as a guitarist in Collins' band, Owens gained an inside view of his mentor's catalog, allowing dig past the hits ("If You Ain't Lovin' (You Ain't Livin')") and novelties ("It Tickles," "I Always Get a Souvenir," "You Gotta Have a License").

The waltz-time "My Last Chance with You" and "High On a Hilltop" show off Owens' double-tracked harmony singing and Jay McDonald's steel playing, with Don Rich's fiddle winding through the latter, and his Telecaster on "Smooth Sailing." Throughout the album, the slower, sadder tunes, like "No Love Have I," provide Owens with the most meat, and making upbeat ditties like "What'cha Gonna Do Now?" sound lightweight. Only "Down, Down, Down" provides the sort of bounce that really energizes Owens' sound.

Unlike most of Sundazed's reissues on Buck Owens, this one features no bonus tracks - just the original twelve tracks. Owens didn't cut a bad album for Capitol, and this one's no exception - it just doesn't measure up the brilliance of his catalog's highpoints. It's worth picking up to flesh out a complete collection, but not the place to start appreciating super fine Sundazed's reissues.

3-1/2 stars, if allowed fractional ratings.

In the mid 1950's Buck was an unknown singer who landed work playing guitar on recording sessions for artists at Capitol records. One of those artists was Tommy Collins who had a string of hits back then. This album was a tribute to a friend and mentor. It contains no hits but is well worth the listen. Many of these songs are full of humor and heartache. The perfect blend for a great country album. Sounds great on CD!!!!