Amazingly great early material George recorded for Mercury – filled with great tunes that sometimes get lost amidst the reissue market, a very nicely done 2 CD set that contains a total of 48 tracks in all! The cuts are drawn from the period when George was still nursing his Hank Williams influences more than the lost loves he became famous for, but there's still plenty of great weepers here to go along with the classic honky tonk. Titles include "Cup Of Loneliness", "Too Much Water", "Just One More", "No Money In This Deal", "Why Baby Why", "Flame In My Heart", "Window Up Above", "I Love You Because", "Tender Years", "Your Old Standby", "Glad To Let Her Go", "Big Harlan Taylor", "I'm Gonna Burn Your Playhouse Down", "Will The Circle Be Unbroken", "If I Don't Love You", "Mr Fool", and "Who Shot Sam". CD

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(78 RPM, Folk/Country) 78 RPM, Vinyl record

... LP, Vinyl record album

(Vocalists, Folk/Country) LP, Vinyl record album

... CD

(78 RPM, Folk/Country) 78 RPM, Vinyl record

... LP, Vinyl record album

Probably the best package of Hank's work we've ever seen! The set collects 42 of Hank's tracks from the late 40s and early 50s on 2 CDs, along with a thick book of biographical notes and photos. Pretty much all of the essential tunes are here, including "I Saw The Light", "Cold, Cold Heart", "Hey, Good Lookin'", ""Your Cheatin' Heart", ""There's A Tear In My Beer", "Lost Highway", "Lovesick Blues", and the rest. As with so many other repackaged sets, the biggest excuse to justify spending even more money on old Hank are the rarities – which include several tracks he recorded early on as Luke The Drifter – including "Ramblin' Man", "I Dreamed About Mama", and "Please Make Up Your Mind". You also get several rare versions, included a couple of live captures from the Opry. We're eating our hat here, but we just can't deny that Mercury managed to churn out another essential Hank set! CD

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Wonderful work from one of Merle Haggard's greatest duet partners – later life partner Leona Williams, whose vocals are already incredible, even without Merle on board! The pair co-produced the set with a mighty nice vibe, and there's plenty of guitar from Roy Nichols, Haggard's longtime accompanist – on titles that include "Waitin On The Good Life To Come", "Don't Ever Let Your Lover Sleep Alone", "Heart To Heart Talk", "Let's Pretend We're Not Married Tonight", "You Can't Break The Chains Of Love", and "We're Strangers Again". LP, Vinyl record album

... LP, Vinyl record album

... LP, Vinyl record album

Absolutely brilliant numbers from Charlie Rich – one of the greatest and most versative voices ever to come out of the 50s rock & roll and country scenes – his impeccable work for Smash in the 60s, long before he'd hit mainstream country pay dirt (finally) in the mid 70s! Charlie was both blessed and cursed by his gifted vocal chords, in that he could do anything with them – nascent blue-eyed soul, pop, country, rock & roll – which made it all too easy for his labels, producers and handlers to move him onto a new thing if the singles or LPs didn't stick commercially. They couldn't wedge him comfortably into a niche, but damned if he didn't knock everything they threw at him right outta the park. So very highly recommended! 29 tracks in all: "It Ain't Gonna Be That Way", "Party Girl", "I Can't Go On", "So Long", "Just A Bit Of You", "So Long", "Down And Out", "Moonshine Minnie", "Hawg Jaw", "Lonely Weekends", "Tars A Go-Go", "She's A Yum Yum", "Man About Town", "Mohair Sam", "So Long" and many more. (Rock, Folk/Country) CD

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Features: Lester Flatt & Earl Scruggs, The Louvin Brothers, Carl Story and The Ramblin' Brothers and others! CD

Really haunting work from the great Anita Carter – featuring some excellent original tunes too! LP, Vinyl record album

20 re-recordings of Cash's hits by Cash himself. LP, Vinyl record album

... LP, Vinyl record album

... LP, Vinyl record album

... LP, Vinyl record album

... LP, Vinyl record album

Stunning early sounds from the legendary George Jones – material recorded in the years before his bigger fame on the Musicor and Epic labels – and tracks that show that Jones was already a hell of a well-developed talent right from the start! The cuts here sparkle with that trademark George Jones vocal sound – but also have a nice sort of an edge, as George hasn't settled down into that totally smooth approach of later years – and instead here moves between rocking moments and more twang-heavy tunes – served up on an assortment of singles and rare tracks recorded for the Mercury, Starday, and Dixie labels. Titles include "Too Much Water", "Seasons Of My Heart", "Gonna Come Get You", "I'm Ragged But I'm Right", "Eskimo Pie", "No No Never", "Play It Cool", "Take The Devil Out Of Me", "Just One More", and "No Money In This Deal". A hell of a collection – 29 tracks in all! CD

Tremendous early work from George Jones – the full White Lightning album for Mercury Records, stacked here with a huge amount of bonus tracks too! George is wonderful throughout – already a standout in the shifting country scene of the 50s – with one ear that understands the sharper edges of the rock generation, but another that brings out all the sentiment in the tunes he touches – material that's delivered with this magical approach that few other singers could touch. If you only know George as a blue-tinged singer of ballads from his later years, you'll really be stunned here – as lots of the tracks have a sound that's quite different, and a lot more vibrant. Titles include "White Lighning", "Give Away Girl", "Wandering Soul", "Life To Go", "Flame In My Heart", "What Am I Worth", "I Take The Chance", "Settle Down", "I'm A One Woman Man", "Revenooer Man", "Sparkling Brown Eyes", and "Color Of The Blues". CD

The second in Mickey Newbury's American Trilogy – recorded when Newbury was at Elektra Records, a label that was apparantly as unable to find an audience for him as Mercury was a few years earlier – but all these years later it stands just as beautifully of a leftfield bit of spacious, moody genius just about any singer-songwriter record of the period we can think of! Recorded at Nashville's Cinderella Sound Studios, it's really wonderful stuff that defys genre and convention, but is as emotionally connective and sastisfying as anything from the mainstream. Titles include "The Future's Not What It Used To Be", "Frisco Depot, "Swiss Cottage Place", "How I Love Them Old Songs" and more. (Rock, Folk/Country) LP, Vinyl record album