Of course, I should have followed my own advice when picking up a couple of this series issued about seven years ago by St. Clair Entertainment Group, Inc. Despite what it says on some of the headers here in Amazon, these are NOT the original recordings. In small print on the back its says "This album contains new stereo recordings performed by the featured artists" and, if you read some of the other reviews for the various entries, the sound quality, not to mention the voices themselves (which, in many instances, were getting a little long in the tooth when they did them) range from horrible to mediocre to barely adequate.
Also there are no liner notes nor even a discography of the contents to at least tell you WHEN they were recorded. They are, however, cheap, and if you don't mind re-makes of what were some smash Country hits by some of the best artists ever, then by all means get them.
As far as I can determine, the series covered, in addition to Merle Haggard: Freddy Fender; Charlie Rich; Waylon Jennings; Buck Owens; Porter Wagoner; Kitty Wells; Lynn Anderson; Willie Nelson; Donna Fargo; Kenny Rogers; Ray Price; Jeannie C. Riley; Lee Greenwood; Roger Miller; Faron Young; David Houston; Johnny Paycheck; and Barbara Mandrell.
to get a good quality, single-disc collection of the original recordings of some of Merle Haggard's greatest music, "20 Greatest Hits" on the Capitol/EMI label is good, as is the budget cd "Best of the Best" also on Capitol (avoid similarly titled releases on different labels)...to really do Merle Haggard's legacy justice, easily the best single purchase currently available is the multi-label box set compilation called "Down Every Road"
This is a great set of songs by Merle. The sound quality of the CD is fantastic. Well worth the price.
