These 20 tracks, which are not in chronological order, were recorded for the MGM label from 1964 through the early 70s, before his 440 foot near death fall off a mountain in August of 1975. His voice sounds not a lot different than it does now, but the music is different. Some of the tracks, such as "Make The World Go Away" by Hank Cochran, are overproduced, with strings and background vocals, as many Nashville recordings were in those days. The background vocal group, on the Don Gibson song "Sweet Dreams", sometimes hides the sound of Hank's voice.
There's also plenty to like about this album. Six of the tracks are songs made famous by Johnny Cash, including four written by Johnny. They come from Hank Jr's album SINGING MY SONGS(JOHNNY CASH), released in 1970. On these songs, Hank is backed by some especially good players. The album starts out with a great version of "Ring of Fire", written by June Carter and Merle Kilgore, but my favorite of these is "Understand Your Man", with some hot licks from a steel guitar and someone doing some chicken pickin' on electric guitar. "Folsom Prison Blues" and "Give My Love To Rose", also have some of those good guitar licks as well. The other Cash songs include "I Guess Things Happen That Way" written by Jack Clement, and "I Walk The Line".
There are two songs from Hank's duets with Lois Johnson. The best of which is the Buck Owens song "Together Again". The other is "So Sad", written by Don Everly, which isn't a bad song either. There are three nice duets with Connie Francis. They are, The Everly Brothers hit, "Bye, Bye Love", "Singing The Blues" made famous by Marty Robbins, and the Hank Locklin hit, "Please Help Me I'm Falling", which is my least favorite of the three.
Another of my favorites is the Johnny Horton hit "North To Alaska". It has some strings and background vocals, but they don't overpower the song. The sound of a banjo adds a nice effect, and Hank puts in a strong vocal. He also does a good version of the George Jones song "Window Up Above". The last track on the cd is "Your Cheatin' Heart", the title song from Hank Jr's second album, the soundtrack of the 1964 movie, starring George Hamilton, based on the life of Hank Williams Sr.
My personal favorite, is the western ballad "The Blizzard", written by Harlan Howard. This track comes from Hank Jr's third album BALLADS OF HILLS AND PLAINS, released in 1965. I own a copy of the original vinyl album, which has been a favorite of mine for many years. It's great to hear it on cd, and I wish the complete album would be issued on cd.
If you like Hank Williams Jr, or just good country music, I recommend this cd. I have several compilations of early Bocephus, and besides having more songs than the others, this is also one of the best. Most of these songs are unavailable elsewhere, unless you pay a high price for the original albums, if you can find them.
Nice rare and hardly heard release, this is before his near fatal accident so he sounds different here than on current albums
It's nice to hear these old songs,in a time before Jr. could/would write his own music. This is classic Hank Jr.
As always the item arrived in time specified. This is a good album if you like Hank Williams, Jr.
