Customer Reviews

The Essential Bill Monroe (1945-1949)

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4 star:		(4)
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I can't fault the superb music or the documentation (a previous reviewer said there's none...he should return his, the set comes with a pretty good book of history, session notes, etc.). However, for some reason, Columbia decided that 16 of these songs should be represented not by the originally released takes, but by alternate takes. The master takes were released later on a separate release (16 Golden Hits or something like that). Grrrrr...
So we get the following absurdity in the notes: "...Monroe opens the throttle and launches into what would become the most influential performance in bluegrass history." This is describing "Blue Grass Breakdown", but the problem is that the performance in question, undoubtedly an extremely important recording, ISN'T INCLUDED IN THE SET, but rather an alternate take is substituted. Dunderheads. If this set was meant to be an introduction to Monroe, it should have been all master takes. If it was meant to be a collection for completists, it should've had an additional CD's worth of music included.

On the plus side for Columbia, the sound is really quite excellent, considering these are 40's recordings. Many Columbia CD reissues, at least in their former Jazz reissue series, were marred by terrible remastering. This release sounds fabulous.

The complaints about Columbia issuing alternate takes on this set are factually correct. I was sort of puzzled by this too. However in the liner notes to Columbia's "16 Gems" Bill Monroe album they explain the background of this set. Apparently the original concept was to release a 3-cd set with the original and alternate takes together, but there were concerns over the marketability of that idea. So the result was the issue of the 16 gems album, which contains the primary (released) takes of some of the biggest cuts (Bluegrass Breakdown, The Old Crossroads, etc.) and the release of this set, with the alternate takes of those songs. The two albums--"16 gems" and "the Essential Bill Monroe" complement each other. If you are looking for a Bill Monroe on Columbia box set, those two products combined are probably the next best thing to Bear Family's "Blue Moon of Kentucky" 1936-1949 set (which is both more extensive and more expensive).
As a side note, "Uncle Pen" was recorded during Monroe's Decca years only and thus would not be available to Columbia for reissue.

This is what bluegrass is all about! This is the premier blugrass band(1945-1948) by which all other bands are measured by. Forty tracks on this box-set. Twenty-eight featuring Bill Monroe(mandolin,tenor),Lester Flatt(guitar,lead),Earl Scruggs(banjo),Robert "Chubby" Wise(fiddle) and Howard "Cedric Rainwater" Watts or Birch Monroe(bass). This is were the bluegrass sound came from as we know it today. It gives me chills listening to them play. A must for bluegrass fans!

Very simply, this two-CD box set contains some of the finest guitar work you'll ever hear. It's no wonder Steve Earle, Ricky Skaggs and Elvis Presley were such devoted fans. My Rose Of Old Kentucky still gives me chills after repeated listens, and his extended jams are absolutely fantastic.

This box set is a must if you are a fan of American music and want to hear the songs Elvis had in his head when he entered Sun Studios nearly 50 years ago. Check out Monroe's version of Blue Moon Of Kentucky, then hear what "that truck driver" (as Monroe would refer to Elvis) turned this song into on his very first single.

A must for your collection.

Labled the Father of Bluegrass by just about everybody, this 2 Disk CD set with 40 songs gets my recommendation. His original 'Blue Moon Of Kentucky' was covered by Elvis on the King's first 45. Monroe said that he didn't write 'Molly And Tenbrooks', he owns it. His 'Footprints In The Snow' defines the high lonesome sound and 'Can't You Hear Me Callin' is an alternate take from a previous release.

Bill Monroe actually started his recording career some years before, but while his style evolved gradually, historians regard the music that he recorded with Columbia in 1945 as marking the beginnings of bluegrass music as a genre in its own right. This set contains all 40 songs that Bill Monroe recorded for Columbia, though controversially 16 of them are alternative versions that were unreleased prior to 1992. I note that some reviewers feel deceived and have marked down the set accordingly, but while I see their point, I'm happy to have all these wonderful songs in one set.

Bill had nine hits on the country charts, seven of them with Columbia, but the charts tell a misleading story. The songs that he is best remembered for aren't necessarily the songs that charted for him. Two classic songs featured here (Blue moon of Kentucky, Molly and Tenbrooks) were not hits for Bill, but they are among the songs most closely identified with him. Both songs are represented her by the definitive recordings rather than alternative versions.

As originally recorded and presented here, Blue moon of Kentucky was a slow song taken at waltz tempo. After Elvis Presley recorded an up-tempo rock'n'roll version, Bill Monroe showed that the song could be recorded up-tempo in a bluegrass style too. By that time he was signed to Decca, so you need to buy a different compilation to hear that version. The song works well at whatever it is performed.

Molly and Tenbrooks is an old folk song from the 1870s. It is about a horse race, but Bill saw its potential as a banjo tune that would allow Earl Scruggs to show what he could do. Bill was performing the song live long before he got around to recording it, by which time the Stanley brothers had already recorded it based on one of Bill's live performances. The song was not a hit for anybody so in one sense it didn't really matter, but when Columbia signed the Stanley brothers, he quit the label in protest.

There are many other fine songs here including Kentucky waltz (alternative version), Footprints in the snow, I'm going back to old Kentucky (alternative version), Little cabin home on the hill and My rose of old Kentucky among others.

Although representing only a short period in the long career of Bill Monroe, his time with Columbia was a very important period. This is where bluegrass music began as a separate identifiable genre.

I can sympathize with those who have a bone to pick with Columbia for the wealth of alternate takes in this 2-CD box set. It DOES tell you on the reverse, in small print, that tracks 2 to 5, 7, 9, 10 and 13 on disc 1, and 1, 2, 6 to 8, 10, 14, 16 and 17 on disc 2 are alternates, as do the otherwise fantastic liner notes in the enclosed booklet. The problem is, you can't tell that when making a mail-order purchase.

In my case, I bought it at a store over ten year ago and, admittedly, did not closely check the back of the package, so I didn't discover that fact until I started to play the discs, and read the liner notes. Even so, since I wasn't especially looking for original versions at the time, instead just wanting to experience some classic Blue Grass music after having seen a TV documentary on Bill, I still found it to be completely enjoyable, my particular favourite being Can't You Hear Me Calling featuring the vocal harmony of Bill and Mac Wiseman (complete with false starts).

The fabulous 35-page booklet with notes by music historian Mark A. Humphrey is full of fascinating background as well as track-by-track comments, vintage photos, poster/record reproductions, and a complete sessionography. Not what you want if seeking only original versions, particularly of the 7 Country hits he registered from 1946 to 1949 for Columbia.

Still, 5 of those originals are here along with 3 original B-sides: Rocky Road Blues which backed Kentucky Waltz, his first hit which came in April 1946 (# 3) but which is an alternate take here); Footprints In The Snow (# 5 in December 1946 - its B-side, True Life Blues, is an alternate); My Rose Of Old Kentucky which backed Sweetheart, You Done Me Wrong which charted in June 1948 (# 11) but which is an alternate here); Wicked Path Of Sin (# 13 in November 1948 - its flip, Summertime Is Past And Gone, is an alternate); Little Community Church (# 11 in December 1948 b/w That Home Above); Toy Heart (# 12 in April 1949 - its B-side, Blue Grass Breakdown is an alternate); and When You Are Lonely (# 12 in November 1949 - its flip, It's Mighty Dark To Travel, is an alternate.

All but Little Community Church and its B-side, which were billed to Bill Monroe and his Blue Grass Quartet, were credited to Bill Monroe and His Blue Grass Boys. In 1958 he would add a solo hit on Decca, Scotland, which would reach # 27 in November, and in 1959 his solo cover of the Billy Grammer hit, Gotta Travel On, topped out at # 15 Country, also on Decca.

It's just too bad they didn't see fit to include only originals as it then would have appealed to both those fans just wanting to hear some good old Blue Grass as well as collectors of hit singles.

The music is fabulous. It touches a place inside you and makes you stop what you are doing just to listen to the music. This is what good music is meant to be. However: this box set has no (shall I repeat no) documentation. There are no liner notes to fill the oversize box. There are no liner notes in either CD case, just a 1 ply sheet with the song title, writer, and date of recording, which is also printed on the back cover of the box. I would still buy it, but be warned. It doesn't have anything but the CD's (which really is enough).

This 2-disc set was part of a "two-fer" deal and not my first choice, but am I ever glad it was! This one has gone to the top of the CD pile near my stereo and with me on the road. It seems to be a good sampling of the many incarnations of the "Blue Grass Boys" (and girl, counting Wilene/Sally Ann Forrester on accordion). Until this set, I didn't know that Lester Flatt & Earl Scruggs had started out with Bill Monroe and being a dedicated fan of F & S, the cuts featuring them are exceptional.

Boy are the previous reviewers picky-picky. I have never seen even opera picked apart as this boxset has. What do these folks expect-perfection? This set will please all but the fussiest bluegrassophile.