Hank Williams Album: “The Legend Lives Anew”

I can not understand why so many Hank fans hate packages such as this one. This was done out of respect for the greatness of Hank Williams. If you sincerly listen to the selections you will realize that the music only proclaims Hank's great singing and song writing abilities. You see that had he been an artist in another era he still would have been better than anyone else of that time frame, has he was in his own. What I found so amazing is how well such professional arangements actually complement Hank's natural Alabama draw. There is something really neat in the contrast. I own "The Complete Hank Williams", "The Original Singles Collection", and "The Health and Happiness Shows" on cd. I as well own the "Three Hanks" with Sr., Jr. and the 3rd. I love Hank Williams, and this is a fun, quality disc to own. It actually makes more sense to hear Hank with strings than to hear him do a duet of "Tear in my Beer" with Hank Jr. That is something that was never going to happen naturally. At least having strings overdubbed on you original vocal recodings, initial releases or not, is something that started not long after Hank's death.

I'm listening to my vinyl copy of this right now and I'll have to say it still sounds good. Some of the vocal harmonies are a little annoying but the strings really don't cover the timeless enchanting words and voice of Hank (How could they?) I have the entire series on vinyl and still play them. I have the originals but MGM's idea wasn't that bad for the time. They had the studio musicians who respected the music and that keeps it whre Hank wouldn't object. All in all, it sounds like country of the late sixties (though it's from 20 years before).

We've heard all of the talk about how MGM ruint Hank's music with releases such as this one, but on this release, I would beg to differ with the detractors. This original late 60's release along with the other 3 volumes of the set (no longer in print, Mercury take a hint) shows truly that Hank's music was timeless. This release relies upon a not so standard set of Hank songs. While this has the prerequesite hits such as "Lovesick Blues" & "Wedding Bells", a few little less known tunes were included starting with the old Sterling label release "I Don't Care If Tomorrow Never Comes" and highlighted by two Luke the Drifter selections.

The instrumentation is never harsh & Hank never sounds buried by the backing group of the Jordanaires (according to the original liner notes, they were the backing group) or the fine string setting.

My choice would be to have the whole series on a CD set. It could easily be done with probably only two CD's considering the capacity of a CD. But, you're going to find yourself in one of three categories on this release.

Being a lifelong Hank fan, I had often heard of this album, but managed to avoid it through the years. I finally decided to give it a spin, and things just got strange..........

Here's the great Hank Williams, through the magic of mid-sixties overdub technology, pining his heart away to what could be likened to a Phil Spector "wall-of-sound" treatment. Though I am a hard-core purist, preferring the original renditions over "updated sound", this whole concept strikes a weird chord. Gone is Don Helms' steel and Jerry Rivers' fiddle, and that in itself is downright unsettling. The tunes here in this package are only recognizable by Luke The Drifter's mournful voice, which I have to say that MGM did a reasonably good job extracting from the originals. You won't hear steel or fiddle, but Mid-Sixties "Nashville Sound" arrangements instead. There are times where, due to filtering, Hank's voice is quite tinny sounding compared to the lush accompaniment. Imagine a cheesy string arrangement accompanied by a syrupy background chorus, along with a rinky-tink piano, and you have the idea.

Hearing it for the first time, again, could be described by many adjectives, notably bizarre, curious, weird, fascinating, and yes, at times enjoyable. RCA did a much better job repackaging Jim Reeves' recordings, and maintained fresh product as a result- well in to the Eighties. I understand that there is a Volume 2 AND a Volume 3 to this updated Hank stuff, and then MGM dropped the idea. Guess it seemed like a good idea at the time.......

As far as a recommendation goes, I would give it a cautious one. If you are a die-hard Hank fan and look upon his original recordings as the Holy Grail, like many do, this is not for you. If you don't mind exploring the stranger things in life, and have a forgiving nature, then you just may find this set enjoyable. I did!

This is just the CD for people who want to appreciate the major contribution that Hank Williams Sr. made to country music as a songwriter, but who may have difficulty swallowing the twangy, less-than-full-bodied voice with which he hit the top of the country charts in the early 50s. (I am one of those folks.) That voice starkly dominates his original recordings, with minimal instrumental backup (by today's standards) and no vocal backup. The recordings on this album, by overdubbing, add the backup music and vocal that is required to make his singing more palatable to today's listeners who aren't Hank Williams purists. I rate this album 4 rather than 5 because -- as other reviewers have commented -- the song selection is curious. (Hank had 36 top 10 hits, of which only 5 are on this 12-track CD; why devote space on this album to, e.g., the "Men with Broken Hearts" soliloquy, rather than to one of the nine missing No. 1 singles?)