Customer Reviews

Ultimate Collection

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

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.

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.

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."

I wouldn't consider this the "ultimate" Sons collection myself, but it's a nice introduction to the group and an overview of their long and varied career.

There is one small error in the liner notes, however: Mr. Zwisohn states that Tommy Doss takes the lead on Riders in the Sky. While it's true Tommy Doss replaced Bob Nolan in 1949, Bob was around long enough to take the lead on this track. According to Zwisohn's notes in the Wagons West box, Bob Nolan was not too fond of the song when Stan Jones presented it to him for the first time. He didn't like the fact that the melody was derived from Johnny Comes Marching Home. It was, thus, somewhat ironic that he--Bob Nolan--took the lead on the Sons' first version of the tune, which is the version included in both Wagons West and the Ultimate Collection.

For an inferior (but still enjoyable) version that does feature Doss's vocals, see 1959's Cool Water LP (also available on CD).

My earliest recollection of this legendary western group was on the big screen with Roy Rogers and his famous palomino Trigger(the smartest horse in the movies). Would sit in the fifth or sixth row of a darkened theater, watch and listen to The Sons Of The Pioneers, back then this was the best entertainment around. Now that I look back on those films, they seem a little corny, but not the songs and those Pioneers ~ Bob Nolan, Tim Spencer, Hugh Farr, Karl Farr and Leonard Slye (Roy Rogers), still sound as good today as then.

As we ride out on the prairie, these tunes seem to stand out ~ "TUMBLING TUMBLEWEEDS", classic that even Gene Autry titled and featured in one of his films ~ "COOL WATER", big song for this group, as Eddie Arnold the famous country western singing star made his mark with his rendition ~ "RIDERS IN THE SKY", later to become "Ghost Riders In The Sky", by big band leader Vaughn Monroe which became a Top 20 hit in the '40s, this Stan Jones tune has been recorded by every artist imaginable, but still prefer the Pioneers recording.

Before I ride off into the sunset, must tip my stetson to Hip-O Records for this memorable account from those glorious black & white western films that graced the big screen ~ and the music that made such a lifelong impression. You wranglers in the bunkhouse gave us the better, best and ultimate ~ gotta love it!

Total Time: 59:36 on 21 Tracks ~ Hip-O Records 088-112-815-2 ~ (2002)

With all the hoopla surrounding "O Brother, Where Art Thou," record companies large and small are reissuing all of their vintage country, bluegrass, hillbilly and gospel recordings. If this collection is a result of this renewed interest in classic American music, many many thanks to "O Brother." Truth be told, I stumbled on this because of "O Brother." While you may not know the name Sons of the Pioneers, you know the music. The melodies are so deeply woven in the American cultural landscape that you'll know half the songs without recognizing any of the titles. And its that familiarity that makes the record such a wonderful listen. So many of these kinds of collections are so academic that the listenability suffers. Not so here. There's a simplicity and warmth in these recordings that's comforting, welcoming and invites repeated listening. The outstanding track, to these ears, is "Way Out There," whose closing yodel was used in the film "Raising Arizona," a Coen Brothers concoction made some ten years before "O Brother."

The original Sons of the Pioneers had the perfect blend of harmony. AND Bob Nolan wrote some of the greatest cowboy songs. Among them the unforgetable TUMBLING TUMBLE WEEDS. This recording has the perfect collection of Sons of the Pioneer hits of their day. If you like Country-cowboy of the 40s and 50s THIS IS THE ONE.

Only the Sons of the Pioneers have that sound!! Great country music,and that mellow sound. If I didn't own this one yet--I'd buy it. It's good music to listen to over and over again.

I remembered hearing my folks play the old "Cool Water" record when I was a kid, and it made me pick this up. "Ultimate Collection" is an over-statement though. It's good because we gets songs from the 30's through to the 50's, a lengthy 21 tracks, and it's most of the good stuff. Included are the classics "Way Out There", "Tumbling Tumbleweeds", "Blue Prairie", "So Long To The Red River Valley", and of course "Cool Water". However I do sorely miss "Whoopee-Ti-Yi-Yo", "Cowboys Dream", and the excellent "Wind". Where this disc really fails is the sound. It's horrible, and sounds like it was copied from a record. Like my title says, the Cool Water collection has every song I would want, and sounds much better. Better artwork too.

Yes, this is a good selection of songs from Sons of the Pioneers. Unfortunatly, the recording is also obviously created from old vinyl recordings. There is an unacceptable amount of hiss and popping on several tracks that really detracts from the music and I have yet to figure out if the recording is stereo (don't think so). I was really disappointed at the quality but for those of you who miss the nostalgia of a well-worn mono LP, give it a try. I doubt that I'll be listening to this CD much.