Loretta Lynn Album: “Honky Tonk Girl: The Loretta Lynn Collection [Box]”

Description :

Personnel includes: Loretta Lynn (vocals); Ray Edenton, Bill Hullet (acoustic guitar); Thomas Grady Martin, Pete Wade (electric guitar); Harold Morrison (guitar, banjo); Leon Rhodes, Johnny Russell, Dave Thornhill (guitar); Buddy Charleton, Harald Rugg (steel guitar); Harold Hensley (fiddle); Charley McCoy (harmonica); Floyd Cramer, Hargus Robbins (piano); Roy Huskey, Jr., Joe Zinkan (bass); Harold Bradley (6-string electric bass); Murrey Harman, Jr., Willie Ackerman (drums); Curtis Young (background vocals). Producers: Dan Grashey, Owen Bradley. Compilation producer: Jimmy Guterman. Recorded in Los Angeles, California; Nashville and Mt. Juliet, Tennessee between February 1960 and December 1987. Includes liner notes by Jimmy Guterman. Digitally remastered by Hollis Flatt. The definitive Loretta Lynn career retrospective, and liable to remain so. All the hits are here, plus rarities and overlooked tracks, and the three CDs are sequenced more or less chronologically, from her self-promoted 1960 breakthrough "Honky Tonk Girl" (recorded, in mono, under somewhat primitive conditions) to 1987's "Who Was That Stranger" (state-of-the-art digital), with Lynn's undiminished vocal powers supplying the continuity. Besides the signature songs, particularly noteworthy cuts include duets with country legend Ernest Tubb, and "Who Says God Is Dead," from an overlooked 1968 gospel album. Bottom line: If this isn't all the Loretta Lynn you'll ever need, it's darn close.

I bought this collection as my birthday gift to myself this year and am so glad I did. I love this box set. Especially the songs, "Rated X," "As Soon As I Hang Up the Phone," and "You're the Reason Our Kids Are Ugly." Shows how much emotional depth Loretta has in her singing (her voice is absolutely heartbreaking in "As Soon As I Hang Up the Phone") and also her lighter side as far as casual bantering in some songs (the funny, light-hearted bickering with Conway Twitty at the end of "You're the Reason Our Kids Are Ugly"). Some real gems here, some that I knew well and some that I had forgotten about. All in all, well worth the price.

I must agree with the person who reviewed this last-no box set could ever satisfy any one person and this set does leave some to be desired. Everything on here is presented in stellar sound quality-no evidence of vinyl sources or anything less than first generation master tapes. That's one reason it gets 4 stars. Another is the wealth of information contained in the book. But, this totally misses all of her Zero label recordings except for "Honky Tonk Girl" & "Whispering Sea". It also misses all but one of her gospel songs-"Who Says God Is Dead?". Considering Loretta put out 2 gospel LP's, this is definite oversight on the part of MCA records. One thing that you'll see me stress in my review of a lot of CD's is the fact a CD can hold up to almost 80 minutes of playing time & not one of the 3 CD's even come close to it! Now, of course, I'm not even hinting that they could've included EVERY song she recorded, but I'm stressing more could've been put on here without driving up the cost. But, the biggest majority of American record companies seem to bent on ripping off the consumer. Loretta needs and deserves a better box set than this one. If Bear Family won't do a set, perhaps MCA could do what Polygram done for Hank Williams in the 80's & release a multi-volume set available in installments for dedicated fans.

rgreagan53@go.com

It would be damn near impossible to compress Loretta's career into 3 CD's.....but MCA has made a valiant attempt to do just that. These CD's cover Loretta's beginning (Wilburn Bros. era) and continue through her duet years with Ernest Tubb and Conway, and on to her adult contemporary/pop sound of the late -70's/early-80's. As a fan of real country music, I have the first two cd's in constant rotation, and even occasionally listen to the later sound that only Loretta could make tasteful. This box set is well put-together and delivered. The set is actually a hard-cover "book-style" set that contains 3 CD's and a fine, attached, booklet covering Loretta's career. This one is well worth the moeny. A+