Hank live at the Opry
This 2 CD set of transcriptions recorded live at the Grand Ole Opry is a must have for all country music collectors as it not only is a reissue of an LP issued in the 1970's, but is a 2 CD set with not only performances by Hank but also Minnie Pearl, Rod Brasfield, Red Foley, Oak Ridge Quartet and other Opry regulars at the time Hank appeared on the show. The 2nd disc does contain an entire show from 1950 while the first disc does have Hank performances from 1949 (his debut on the Opry to 1952). The packaging is a nice hardcover book with pages of nice liner notes and rare photos. I'll repeat this but this isn't only for Hank fans, but for all country music collectors no matter how big a Hank fan you are as the humor is a major part of the Opry.
2 Unearthly Performances
This 2-CD set brings together some truly sublime performances (the Grand Ole Opry armed forces debut of "Lovesick Blues" and "Move It On Over") on disc 1, but little of consequence is contained on disc 2. The "Move It On Over" track was 'recently discovered' in Mercury's vaults, but most of these live recordings were released on the 10-CD box set, lending truth to my suspicion that Mercury is hoarding the majority of these unearthly live performances and will release them one at a time, packaging them around fill (as in disc 2 of this set), intending to fleece the pockets of Hank Williams, Sr. fans. I would think that CD sales figures from Nashville's highest paid lap dancer (Shania Twain) should be more than enough to sustain Mercury's profit-hungry accounting department. This box set proves that to be wrong.
hank versus the opry - guess who wins?
For a guy who died before he turned 30, Williams' catalogue is astounding in volume. But this latest addition is a bit of a sick joke. Throughout much of his career, the deleterious country singer and the stodgy ole Opry had what could best be described as - ahem - a strained relationship. The Opry, with an audience of millions, insisted on predictability from its performers. For Hank, that meant cranking out the hits with zero elaboration on his talent. But Williams was also chronically self-destructive and indifferent to schedules. For the Opry, such impudence was tantamount to heresy. But Williams was so popular, they were forced to bend their own rules until they kicked him out forever after repeated no-shows in 1952. But despite such a fractious partnership, this stuttered collection of Williams live on the Opry stage between 1949 and 1952 remains a testament to the tortured musician's brilliance, not the prudence of the hoity-toity GOO. In addition to loads of unreleased material, the big difference between this and previous releases is that Williams' appearances are put in the context of the Opry variety show (particularly on the second CD, which is a radio broadcast of one complete show in 1950). Historically speaking, the comedy bits between the songs are an irritating embarrassment; various displays of painful jokemeistering, hillbilly foolishness and a prolonged and excruciating Minnie Pearl routine that bombs like the Enola Gay. Not so with Williams. More than 50 years after these crackly and prehistoric live recordings were made, Williams' graveyard bluegrass/blues and famished n' horny coyote howl are as plaintively substantial as ever; from his first hit (Lovesick Blues, You're Gonna Change) until his final performances (Window Shopping, Long Gone Lonesome Blues). Nobody, not the Opry, God or Williams himself, were able to diminish his reputation as a fascinating and genuine talent unequalled in country music.
The best Hank Williams Opry recordings available.
For those of you who own THE COMPLETE HANK WILLIAMS box set, this CD looks like a mere duplication of CD #10. It really isn't. It's substantially better. Well worth owning at the right price.Five of the tracks ("I Can't Help It," "Wedding Bells," "Jambalaya," "Window Shopping," and "Half as Much") are brand new and excellent. The first and last are especially outstanding. Additionally, there are six new song versions that are generally longer and better than the versions on the set. "Long Gone Lonesome Blues," with more vocal inflection than any other, is the best live version. "Why Don't You Love Me," "Moanin' the Blues," and "Nobody's Lonesome for Me" are longer versions than on the set. "Cold, Cold Heart" has more feeling than the set version, although I prefer the set version for the violin quality of the fiddle.
Ignore the second disc; it's [not that great]. I suspect Mercury stuck this on so that the set would roughly correspond in quality and length to their HEALTH AND HAPPINESS set. The latter, while essential to own, totals only 96 minutes and has lots of filler with eight versions of "Happy Rovin' Cowboy," and "Sally Goodin'," plus Audrey's screeches, etc. Disc one of LIVE AT THE GRAND OLE OPRY makes the whole thing worthwhile.
In conclusion, Disc One of LIVE AT THE GRAND OLE OPRY is worth owning. Look for a good used copy, or an inexpensive new copy, of this. It probably isn't worth paying the retail price for this product, any more than the HEALTH AND HAPPINESS SHOWS is worth the full retail price. ...
Ok, it's a start
This set is a start by Mercury of what should be a long lived series of releases of live recordings. Hank recorded so much live material in his career that this only touches the tip of the iceberg. I'm thinking here of "live" recordings that have found their way onto bootleg CD's such as the oft-mentioned "Jambalaya". No, we're not talking "Mother's Best" here, but so many have made the point that even though CD#2 is a "bonus", it is practically worthless except to historians, completists or fans of these other artists, so that is a turn-off to this set. Polygram done a heckuva job in the 1980's with their multi- volume set, so I'd suggest Mercury take the same road with the live recordings and do some sort of a commemorative set of "live" recordings for the completists out there.
Some years ago, MGM Records issued an LP of 11 Hank Williams Opry performances originally recorded for broadcast on Armed Forces Radio. Years of digging have unearthed much more Hank at the Ryman in crystal-clear monaural sound. Disc 1's 19 songs, punctuated by onstage joshing with singer Red Foley and Opry comics Minnie Pearl and Rod Brasfield, begin with his June 1949 debut as an Opry regular, ending in July 1952, a month before his firing over drinking-related no-shows. These powerful live renditions include the broadcast debuts of "Jambalaya" and "Window Shopping" along with two stark, chilling gospel numbers. Even with his physical stamina failing--as it clearly was on the final two songs--these raw performances are powerful testaments to Hank's charismatic genius and remain as arresting today as at the moment of broadcast. Disc 2, a complete 1950 Opry segment featuring Williams, Foley, and other Opry acts, is a historically valid, though musically inferior document, and including it on a Hank Williams package tends to dissipate the album's overall focus. --Rich Kienzle
