Hank Williams Album: “The Original Singles Collection [Box]”

Hank Williams will always be the King of Country Music! No matter how hard CMT tries to make Johnny Cash look better or to seem more important, even the legacy of Johnny Cash in a hundred years, will fall short of that of Hank Williams". They placed Cash at #1 all time on their top 40 Men of country Music, with Hank at # 2. They gave Cash five songs and Hank only four in their best 100 songs of Country music, and made sure to place Cash's highest ranking song just ahead of Hank's. And gave Cash the #1 video of all time with "Hurt" and placed the historic "There's a Tear in my Beer" duet with Hank JR. all the way down at #18. This only makes CMT look uncreditable and silly. This set and especially "The Complete Hank Williams" put to shame "The Essential Johnny Cash 1955-1983" and his new "Unearthed" set. As much as I love Johnny Cash,(I actually believe that Merle Haggard is more talented and influential to pure Country music than anyone but Hank)Hank Williams will always be the reason Country made it to the mainstream and stayed there. NOW, What I am about to say is very important. If you are looking for a Hank set for yourself or as a gift for someone else, this is the one to get. Let me explain. "The Complete Hank Williams", lets face it, is not very affodable and would only be respected by a true Die Hard. "40 Greatest Hits", though very good, really needed to be extended, as was done here. "The Ultimate Collection" is harldly that, with the last five or six songs not being the original studio versions, but live recodings, and replacing some of the stadards from "40 Greatest Hits" with demos. The demos are great, but don't sacrifice the popular session songs for them. The U.K. box set "Hillbilly Hero", is great for the price, but it only goes through 1951, the 4th disc is Health and Happiness shows, which are nice to have, the problem is they are in place of all of his recodings from 1952. "Original Singles Collection" is great for what it includes as well for what it does not. It contains all the singles released under the name Hank Williams, which is almost every thing. It excludes, with the exception of one or two, the "Luke the Drifter" songs, which were more spoken than sung, and duets with Audery, which were over powered by her less than perfect voice. Those, as well, really throw off the rotation, they are better listend to by them selves. "Ramblin Man" is here because it is sung the all the way, and was re-released under Hank's name after his death in 1953. This set has alot of great demos but does not sacrifice any standards to place them there, and they are at the end of disc three so they don't interupt the flow of things. If you only had one set of one artist in all of popular music, this would be the one to have. Hank Williams was the best singer/songwriter ever and is the most important and influential artist in all of popular music. This set shows why.

A truly awesome collection of music here, from a distant past when song writing mattered.

As I listened to teh music and read the liner notes, it occurred to me that Hank Williams would probably not get a record contract today: he wasn't a pretty-boy, and he probably wasn't much for coreographed dancing either ...and, there would be no rumors that he was gay or into drugs (except alcohol -- a substance which he consumed by the barrel, until it killed him).

While the engineering and 'production' are downright crude by contemporary standards, there's a warmth to the singing and playing here that simply can't be reproduced in electronically enhanced music.

Great songs, like most other great art, manage to survive the initial hype, and become something that those who "know" would never want to be forced to do without. Just try listening to this and picking a "favorite". I guarantee that you'll have a new one each time.

There is not a 'bad song' (in terms of writing) in this 3-disc collection. Artists in Rock, R&B, and other genres have covered Williams' songs, and it's amazing sometimes how well the music crosses genres.

The music alternates between being inmspirational, happy, sad, and occasionally, downright depressing. But it's clear that Hank Williams songs have cast a long shadow over country, early rock & roll, and other forms of music. One almost wonders if the country music establishment has not spent the past 50 years searching for the next Hank Williams (or in the case of female country singers, Patsy Cline); someone who could pick up and write great hit songs every week, that people wanted to listen to for years.

As a historical document, and as a worthy addition to a music lover's collection, this is an "essential" piece.

The real tragedy in this music is not that Hank was sad & lonely, nor that he died "too young" (he was just short of 30 when he died), but that few people today actually can write music, especially lyrics, that stands on its own merits (as opposed to being background for video games, fillers on movie soundtracks, or audio-padding around hits on CD's).

This collection is the next step up for those listeners who want more tahn "40 Greatest Hits" but cannot afford "Complete Hank Williams." This collection contains nearly every single released, with the exception of the Hank & Audrey duets and most of the Luke The Drifter singles, which the latter singles are on the CD Beyond The Sunset anyway. This collection is worth buying and everything that's been said has been said.

I had only heard 24 of Hank's songs before I bought this box set, and quickly realized that more is better. My favorite thing about the box set is that the last 16 songs, I believe, are demos in which only Hank and his guitar can be heard. When it comes to conveying raw emotions and helping people through music, I don't know of many others that can better or equal Hank.

This three CD box set collects all the singles Hank Williams released under his own name during his lifetime. So that leaves out the songs he released as "Luke the Drifter", with two exceptions. Not sure why they weren't included, there is certainly room for them. In addition to the singles, there are also several demos included. Hank Williams was unquestionably the greatest country music performer of all time, and everything he recorded is well worth listening to. Highly recommended.