Buck Owens Album: “Open Up Your Heart”

Like all Bear Family box sets, not for the uninitiated. The comparison is between other, more concise Buck sets and the other comprehensive Bear boxes of the same genre/era. Others have commented on how the inclusion of the Buckaroos material bloats the set a bit, and that is certainly a very valid point. However, the inclusion of said material highlights the talents of the great Don Rich, who could have perhaps formed a wonderful career on his own, had a) he sought more of the spotlight instead of firm support of Buck, and b) had not had the bad career move of dying far too young. Most of the Buck material is quite famililar, some of the Rich tunes new to most of us. Buck makes a good point mentioned in the liner notes about wanting to put some distance between other country acts and himself, and this box makes the best case for such. Unlike many other Bear Family boxes, there is much variety within each disc and for those of us that make a habit of buying these monsters (I have perhaps 50, and wish I had them all), this is a welcome and surprising feature. If you just know Buck from HeeHaw, avoid this one, it is too much Buck for the Buck. However, if you have some affinity for the hits, and have even marginal interest in the deeper aspects of the catalog, it is a bargain. Of course, the notes and pictures in the enclosed book are fabulous, which may go without saying for these guys. No one does it better than Bear Family, and even compared to their high standards, this is a superlative package.

I have been a big Buck Owens fan since the mid-sixties and purchased many of his vinyl LP's when they were new, so I was quite familiar with a lot of this music. A few of the tunes to which I was really looking forward were his acoustic guitar instrumentals recorded for his "Guitar Player" album. These numbers had never been available on CD before. When I punched up "Mexican Jumping Bean" I found they had substituted "Mexican Polka" from 5 years earlier and already included on the first Buck Box! I doubt they will rectify the situation in the new Buck Box, TALL DARK STRANGER. A small point, granted.

This Buck Owens album was recorded at various sessions between August 1965 and April 1966. There were an incredible four #1 Country hits on this album ("Open Up Your Heart", "Think of Me", "Waitin' in Your Welfare Line" and "Sam's Place"). The album was somewhat of a departure for Buck; instead of the usual mix of leads performed by Buck and various Buckaroos, Buck sings all the leads. Aside from the hits, the other songs on the album are pretty good, too. This is a typically solid Buck Owens album. The CD adds two bonus tracks, which are the single versions of "Open Up Your Heart" and "Think of Me". These are basically the same as the album versions, except they are in mono instead of stereo.

Here's a 14 song collection from Buck's Album "Open Up Your Heart", provided as a re-release by Sundazed Records. They've done a spectacular job with this effort, as they have done with the remainder of Buck's Studio Albums; you really need to check out the entire collection. This CD contains some of Buck's best work, including "Think Of Me", a Nat Stuckey penned "Waitin in Your Welfare Line", and a rolicking "Sams Place". While the majority of the songs are Buck Owens' penned, there's also contributions from the great Red Simpson and of course, the legendary Don Rich. Get this one while it's still available.

Excellent compilation of the works of Buck Owens during this time period. I would highly recommend this collection for all true fans of the late great Mr. Owens!