Ultimate Collection

Sons of the Pioneers (Artist) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (May 21, 2002)
• Original Release Date: 1935
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Hip-O Records
• ASIN: B000066F3E
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #30,182 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

29 of 30 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Hollywood singing cowboys, January 30, 2003

By 

Ronald Scheer "rockysquirrel" (Los Angeles) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Ultimate Collection (Audio CD)

I grew up with many of the songs on this CD playing on the radio in the dusty Nebraska summers, where "Cool Water" always had a special haunting quality when sung by The Sons of the Pioneers -- or anybody else, for that matter. There are other classics in this collection that are good to hear again: "Tumbling Tumbleweeds," "Riders in the Sky," "The River of No Return," but the CD is mostly a collection of recordings of lesser known works, recorded chiefly in the 1930s.

The 21 songs on the CD represent a range of the group's musical styles, all of them focused on vocal performances, with few instrumental flourishes. Guitars are strummed, not picked, and the fiddle adds a yearning, wistful quality to echo the sentiment of the songs. Many of them have such an easy informality, you can imagine them being sung under the stars around a campfire. The trio of voices, while they have the remarkable ability to yodel in harmony, are serviceable and unpretentious but not as interesting as the individual vocalists, including the best known of them, Leonard Slye (AKA Roy Rogers).

Bob Nolan and the rest of the group apparently knew little of cowboying first hand, and their careers were centered in Hollywood, where they got a start on radio station KFWB. Their songs are typically a romanticized portrayal of the Old West and usually lament its passing. Only Johnny Mercer's ironic "I'm an Old Cowhand," though a big hit in its time, seems out of place here. Roy Rogers' sincere rendering of his own song "My Saddle Pals and I" is far closer to the main themes that run through the entire collection.

The CD comes with a 12-page booklet identifying the recording date and label for each song. There's a short history of the group, from its origin to the death of Roy Rogers in 1998, and a discussion of the individual recordings, plus several publicity photos of the group through the years. Very informative and adds considerably to an appreciation of the songs. Great value.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Superbly picked overview of Sons' earliest years, June 16, 2002

By 

hyperbolium (Earth, USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Ultimate Collection (Audio CD)

The trio singing and yodeling of original Sons Leonard Slye (more famously known as Roy Rogers), Bob Nolan and Tim Spencer coined a sound that quickly became the very definition of Western cowboy music. Hip-O's new collection combines the Pioneers' original 1930's Decca sides, starting with their first session, "Way Out There," with later tracks from Vocalion, Columbia, RCA Victor and Coral.

Bob Nolan supplied several of the group's best-known tunes, including 1934's "Tumbling Tumbleweeds" and 1941's "Cool Water," providing some of popular culture's most memorable Western imagery. Rodgers' "My Saddle Pals and I," voiced by Lloyd Perryman, is a warm expression of the Hollywood cowboy's film ethos, and Rogers himself is heard taking lead on "Blue Bonnet Girl."

Outside writers also provided the group with fine Western songs, including forest ranger Stan Jones' "Riders in the Sky" (an earlier hit for Vaughn Monroe) and the cinematic, waltz-time "The Lillies Grow High." Johnny Mercer's swinging "I'm An Old Cowhand (From the Rio Grande)," originally sung by Bing Crosby on film (with the Sons providing backing) is heard here with Rodgers and Spencer singing lead.

With nearly an hour of music centered on the key early years of 1934-1937 (a quartet of sides from 1946-1954 fills out the track list), this is as good a single-disc introduction as you'll find to the Sons of the Pioneers. Colin Escott's liner notes and Laurence Zwisohn's detailed song backgrounds complete the package.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Five Stars for the Music, 3 1/2 for the Quality, April 13, 2005

By 

David B. Eck "davideck57" (North Carolina, USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Ultimate Collection (Audio CD)

Terrific CD with some great sides from The Sons of the Pioneers. Tunes cover 1934 through 1954 with heavy emphasis on the earlier stuff. Surface noise on some of the old tracks can be a bit distracting. Don't believe this one was "digitally remastered."