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COUNTRY,
BLUEGRASS & OLD-TIMEY
Charlie Rich
-> Marty Robbins
| CHARLIE RICH |
Columbia 63590 |
Behind Closed Doors |
● CD $9.98 |
This is probably Charlie's best album, recorded in 1973,
presented now on CD and cassette in its original form. Includes the hits Behind
Closed Doors/ The Most Beautiful Girl/ I Take It On Home. Mostly
ballads on the rest of the album, and Charlie's rich vocals sound great
here. The arrangements are lush and full, though a little heavy on the
strings at times. Still, this is a classic album of 70's country.Newly
remastered with one bonus unissued tracks. (PG)
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| CHARLIE RICH |
Epic EK 34240 |
Greatest Hits |
● CD $9.98 |
| 10 songs - Most Beautiful Girl/
Since I Fell For You/ Everytime You Touch Me/ Life Has It's Little Ups And
Downs/ I Love My Friend/ America The Beautiful 1976, etc.
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| CHARLIE RICH |
Hi (UK) 150 |
The Complete Charlie Rich On Hi Records |
● CD $16.98 |
Great collection of country and blue-eyed soul recorded for
Hi in the mid 60s by this superb performer. It includes his only Hi album
"Sings Hank Williams" plus 17 rare singles and unissued tracks
- 27 tracks in all.
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| DAVE RICH |
Bear Family BCD 15763 |
Ain't It Fine |
● CD $21.98 |
RCA recordings from mid/ late 50s by distinctive singer.
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| DON RICH & THE
BUCKAROOS |
Sundazed 11091 |
Country Pickin' - The Don Rich Anthology |
● CD $15.98 |
24 tracks, essential
When he was 18, guitarist/ fiddler/
singer Rich teamed up with Buck Owens & would eventually lead The
Buckaroos for the rest of his short life. He died in a bike accident in
'74 at the age of 32, which was the beginning of Buck's spiral down, not
to be picked up again until he teamed with another young buck, Dwight
Yoakum. Rich's sound was the sound of The Buckaroos, & this set
highlights Rich's showcases on the multitude of Buckaroos solo LPs, as
well as the hit instrumental Buckaroo with the boss present.
Whether honky-tonk vocals, hot guitar instrumentals or fiddle breakdowns,
Rich's distinctive style shines through on such tunes as I'm Layin' It
On The Line/ Happy-Go-Lucky Guitar/ Tim-Buck-Too/ Buckersfield Breakdown/
Round Hole Guitar, etc. Many tributes to Don written by Buck, Merle
Haggard, Chris Hillman & the Buckaroos. (GM)
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| RIDERS IN THE SKY |
MCA MCAD 31244 |
The Cowboy Way |
● CD $7.98 |
For their major label debut, The Riders, supposedly live in
the studio, go through their live act, but filled with so much cutesy-pie
humor to make you wanna break the record in half. If you want real cowboy
music, buy any Sons Of The Pioneers LP that has Bob Nolan on lead vocals.
If you can sit through the humor (I couldn't) they do 15 digitally
recorded tunes, originals with such titles as Concerto For Violin &
Longhorns and Salting Of The Slug , with cowboy favorites Riders
In The Sky/ Happy Trails/ Back In The Saddle Again & Bob Nolan's When
Payday Rolls Around (GM)
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| RIDERS IN THE SKY |
Rounder 11524 |
Best Of The West Rides Again |
● CD $15.98 |
25 cowboy songs culled from the Riders five albums on
Rounder.
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| JEANNIE C. RILEY |
Collectables 6022 |
Harper Valley P.T.A. |
● CD $13.98 |
24 track collection of Jeannie's Plantation recordings cut
between 1968 and 1971 including, of course, her monster hit Harper
Valley P.T.A., the wild follow up The Girl Most Likely and
others like The Wedding Cake/ Good Enough To Be Your Wife/ Help Me Make
It Through The Night/ The Back Side Of Dallas/ Things Go Better With Love,
etc.
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| JEANNIE C. RILEY |
Varese Vintage VSD 5748 |
The Best Of Jeannie C. Riley |
● CD $11.98 |
15 tracks, recommended
Certainly one song launched Jeannie
C. Riley's career: her 1968 cover of Tom T. Hall's Harper Valley P.T.A.,
which topped country and pop charts and led to a movie of the same name.
She had five more Top Tens between 1968 and 1971, and all appear on the
first CD reissue of Riley's work. 13 numbers hail from her heyday with
Shelby Singleton's Plantation label, including the original Harper
Valley P.T.A. along with The Girl Most Likely, There Never
Was A Time, Country Girl, The Back Side of Dallas Duty
Not Desire, Oh, Singer, Good Enough to Be Your Wife and so on.
The package has two flaws. Nothing appears from her 1971-73 MGM period,
yet for some unclear reason, two mediocre MCA tracks appear. Unfortunately
the notes are the superficial, uninformative nonsense that appeared on
country LPs 30 years ago. (RK)
JEANNIE C. RILEY: Country Girl/ Duty Not Desire/ From Harper Valley To The
Mountain Top/ Good Enough To Be Your Wife/ Harper Valley P.T.A./ Harper
Valley P.T.A./ My Man/ Oh, Singer/ Roses And Thorns/ The Back Side Of
Dallas/ The Generation Gap/ The Girl Most Likely/ The Rib/ There Never Was
A Time/ Things Go Better With Love
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| TEX RITTER |
ASV CDAJA 5400 |
Sing, Cowboy, Sing |
● CD $11.98 |
Collection of 26 early sides (1935-1939) - most sides with
small groups. Includes Sing, Cowboy, Sing/ Git Along, Little Dogies/
Lady Killin' Cowboy/ Nobody's Darling But Mine/ The Oregon Trail/ The
Hills Of Old Wyoming/ High, Wide And Handsome/ Out On The Lone Prairie/
Jailhouse Lament/ I'm A Natural Born Cowboy/ Ridin' Down The Trail To
Albuquerque/ When It's Lamplightin' Time In the Valley/ Ai Viva Tequila,
etc.
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| TEX RITTER |
Bear Family BCD 15634 |
High Noon |
● CD $21.98 |
This upgraded version of a previous Ritter LP compilation (BFX
15126--out of print) now brings together 27 selected Capitol recordings by
the legendary cowboy film star ranging from 1942 (the year Capitol was
founded) to 1957. Ritter classics as Rye Whiskey, Blood On the
Saddle, Cattle Call, My Little Cherokee, Jingle,
Jangle, Jingle, Remember the Alamo, The Texas Rangers, The
Bandit and such novelties as Boogie Woogie Cowboy and He's A
Cowboy Auctioneer make up the collection. It also includes two
versions of his classic High Noon. the American recording and a
remake released in England. Again, the sound is outstanding, especially
when compared to the pitiful attempts at sound enhancement on a Curb
Records CD on some of the same Ritter material (Curb simply slaps on echo
to muffle the imperfections). Includes excellent notes by Guy Logsdon. (RK)
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| TEX RITTER |
Bear Family BCD 16260 |
Blood On The Saddle |
● CD $99.98 |
4 CD box set with book documenting the early career of this
popular artist from his early recordings in 1932 through to 1947 for
several different labels. Includes his first hit Rye Whiskey from
1933 plus later ones like Goodbye Old Paint (1939), Have I
Stayed Away Too Long (1942), I'm Wasting My Tears On You
(1944), Have I Told You Lately That I Love You (1946) and lots
more. Includes several alternate takes and duets with Eddie Kirk and The
Dinning Sisters. Booklet contains biographical info, stills from his
movies and rare and unpublished photos.
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| TEX RITTER |
Bear Family BCD 16356 |
High Noon |
● CD $99.98 |
Four CD set featuring all of Tex's
recordings made between 1947 and '54 including three versions of the big
hit title song.
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| TEX RITTER |
Cattle 272 |
The Golden Age Of Tex Ritter |
● CD $18.98 |
28 tracks from radio transcriptions made in the late 40s
with a small group including guitar, fiddle, steel guitar, accordion and
bass.
TEX
RITTER: (tho I Tried) I Can't Forget You/ As Long As I Live/ Beyond The
Shadow Of A Doubt/ Born To Be Blue/ Careless Darlin'/ Detour/ Fort Worth
Jail/ Gotta Have Some Lovin'/ Gotta Make Up For Lost Time/ I Don't Care Who
Knows It/ I Hung My Head And Cried/ I Learned My Lesson Too Late/ I Was
Wrong/ I Wish I Had Never Met Sunshine/ Let's Forget/ Never Mind My Tears/
Shadow On My Heart/ Shame On You/ The First Rose/ This Lonely World/ Too
Late To Worry, Too Blue To Cry/ Trouble Keeps Hangin' 'round My Door/ Wave
To Me My Lady./ When My Blue Moon Turns To Gold Again/ When You Cry (you Cry
Alone)/ You Brought Sorrow To My Heart/ You Can't Break My Heart/ You Can't
Conceal A Broken Heart
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| TEX RITTER |
MCA MCAD 10188 |
The Country Music Hall Of Fame |
● CD $8.98 |
Available again at a budget price. Ol' Tex did his first
recordings for Art Satherley at ARC in 1932, but his first extended tenure
with any record company was with Decca from 1935-1939. Ritter's recorded
repertoire with Decca mixed traditional cowboy numbers with more
commercial material. This meant a mix of old favorites including (Take
Me Back to My) Boots and Saddles/ Git Along, Little Dogies and The
Hills of Old Wyomin' along with such profundities as Bill, the Bar
Fly and Ride, Ride, Ride. He also tackled Jimmie Davis's My
Brown Eyed Texas Rose and such obvious movie favorites as Singin'
In The Saddle and Ai Viva Tequila. This isn't the most
commercially memorable stuff Ritter recorded, but it gives a decent idea
of where he started when he got into the movies. Brief but excellent notes
by Charlie Seemann. (RK)
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| JIMMIE RIVERS |
Joaquin 2501 |
Brisbane Bop |
● CD $15.98 |
19 tracks, essential
Country-jazz guitar whiz Jimmie Rivers
enjoyed regional success with his Northern California-based Western Swing
band the Cherokees. In the early sixties, he led a cut-down version who
played just south of San Francisco at Brisbane, California's wild and
woolly 23 Club. The band, dominated by his formidable guitar, ex-Texas
Playboy Vance Terry's pedal steel and the vocals of Gene Duncan, was
captured by Terry on home recording equipment. In 1983, San Francisco's
Western Records issued 12 numbers from the Terry tapes on LP and over time
it became a cult classic. Bay Area music scene veteran Jeff Richardson, on
of the principals in the long-defunct Western, reissued the album on CD to
launch his new Joaquin label. With the original sequencing preserved, Jeff
not only improved the sound considerably on the CD but went back to
Terry's tapes to add a raucous spoken announcement by Rivers that sets the
listener smack dab in the wild, raucous 23 Club milieu. Six never-heard
songs follow, among them barn-burning versions of Air Mail Special, How
High The Moon the Art Pepper bop anthem Surf Ride and Rose
Room. Rivers, who blew a Dixieland trumpet as wild as his guitar,
rides high on a jumping It's A Sin to Tell A Lie . The last track,
Bob Wills's Twin Guitar Special is light years beyond the original
version. The new graphics are outstanding, and Rich Kienzle, whose
original liner notes captured the Old West atmosphere of both Brisbane (on
the southern border of San Francisco) and the 23 Club, improves on those
notes by adding material from a recent interview with Rivers. One of the
best reissues of 1995. (AK)
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| MARTY ROBBINS |
Bear Family BCD 15568 |
Hawaii's Calling Me |
● CD $21.98 |
Marty's longstanding love for Hawaiian ballads is thoroughly
explored on this collection which combines both the Columbia LPs
"Song of the Islands" and "Hawaii's Calling Me" on one
CD. With added tracks, there are a total of 28 tunes here. Robbins, not
surprisingly, was a superb Hawaiian-style vocalist, able to handle these
ballads as effortlessly as he did every other style of music. He first
tried Hawaiian songs at a 1953 session in Dallas that produced Aloha Oe
and My Isle of Golden Dreams, with his regular steel guitarist
Jimmy Farmer playing the Hawaiian-style riffs behind him. He went further
with it in 1957 when he recorded an entire album that became "Song of
the Islands"including songs like Beyond the Reef and Sweet
Leilani. Then in 1962 he tried it again with the "Hawaii's
Calling Me" album with Jerry Byrd, formerly the top non-pedal country
steel guitar session man before the pedal steel took over. Byrd, whose love
of Hawaiian music was as strong as Marty's complements Marty's vocals
perfectly. As a result, the second album was even better. (RK)
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| MARTY ROBBINS |
Bear Family BCD 15570 |
1951-58 |
● CD $99.98 |
If you've been waiting for Bear's mid-eighties LP collection
of the Marty Robbins Files to be issued on CD, wait no more. This 5-CD
covers all Marty's recordings from the first session in L.A. in 1951
through 1958, arranged chronologically, for a total of 136 numbers,
superbly remastered by Marty Brown's producer (and Down Home customer)
Richard Bennett. The material is largely beyond criticism. You get the
early hits like "I'll Go On Alone" and "I Couldn't Keep
From Crying." All of the rockers are here, That's All Right,"
"Long Tall Sally" and "Maybelline," and the first pop
crossovers" "Singing the Blues" and "Knee Deep In The
Blues." All but one of the Mitch Miller/Ray Conniff sessions (the
last was done in 1959) including "A White Sport Coat" and
"The Story of My Life" are here as well. This means that it
duplicates previously released material including everything on the
recently released Bear CDs Rockin' Rollin' Robbins Vol. 1 and The Story of
My Life: The Ray Conniff Sessions) and the earlier LPs covering the same
material including the Just Me and My Guitar LP. The sound is nothing
short of amazing, and the sound so clear you'd swear you were sitting in
the middle of the musicians on some tracks. I do wonder about the fifth
disc with its "a unique fly on the wall perspective" on Marty in
the studio, with alternate takes and false starts from a New York session
with Miller and a Nashville date with Don Law. Major differences in takes
are interesting but hearing Mitch Miller tell the "kids" in the
chorus where to stand in relation to the mike doesn't do much for me. The
Nashville date has one interesting part. As the musicians blow a take of
Bill Monroe's "Footprints in The Snow" and Marty yells "Now
you guys aren't playin' like you were a while ago--SHIT! everybody
quits!" You won't hear Mr. Teardrop in THAT kind of mood on other
compilations. Great collection with detailed notes by Colin Escott and
terrific photos. (RK)
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| MARTY ROBBINS |
Bear Family BCD 15571 |
A Musical Journey To The Caribbean &
Mexico |
● CD $21.98 |
This 25 song CD is a mishmash of Jamaican and Tex-Mex songs
recorded at various Robbins sessions from 1963 to 1968. They aren't bad,
though not exactly earthshaking, given the other high quality material
Marty was cutting at the time. Includes everything from Bahama Mama
and Kingston Girl to traditional Mexican fare like La Paloma
and Maria Elena.
Primarily a footnote to the other things he was doing
at the time. (RK)
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| MARTY ROBBINS |
Bear Family BCD 15646 |
Under Western Skies |
● CD $99.98 |
Four CD's 97 songs essential It's only fitting that Bear
Family put all of Marty's brilliant cowboy songs in one place, both the
hit singles and all the LP cuts. In one place, they drive home just what a
tremendous singer and songwriter he was in this field. It starts in 1959
with his now-standard version of El Paso both the long version that
became a hit and the edited version that Columbia thought disc jockeys
would accept. Everything is here, from LP's like Gunfighter Ballads
through the few Western songs he recorded during his short stay on MCA in
the early 1970's. The big hits are known, from Big Iron and Cowboy
in the Continental Suit/ Feleena (From El Paso)/ Tonight Carmen/ El Paso
City and All Around Cowboy, the latter being the final Western
hit of his career. Fine obscurities like the masterful Man Walks Among
Us are also featured. The booklet features the usual rare photos,
posters for Robbins' Western movies, stills from those same movies and
never-seen onstage color photos of Robbins and his band. However, in a
departure for Bear Family, the essay by Western music authority Guy
Logsdon, a capable survey of this aspect of Robbins's career, is
accompanied by full lyrics for all the numbers within. (RK)
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| MARTY ROBBINS |
Bear Family BCD 15655 |
Country, 1960-1966 |
● CD $99.98 |
Four CDs, 102 tracks, essential Bear Family capably
chronicled the Columbia recording career of Marty Robbins on a series of
LP's in the pre-CD era and has now put together all his mid-period
mainstream country material to accompany their CD's of rock, pop,
Caribbean, Mexican and Hawaiian, the cowboy box set and the box of his
complete 1951-1958 country material. If he recorded it, it's here, hits
and all, including Don't Worry, (with the proto-fuzztone solo by
Grady Martin) Devil Woman, It's Your World, Cigarettes and Coffee Blues
and other hits. His gospel LP What God Has Done is presented in its
entirety as are the My Kind of Country, Devil Woman and RFD
LPs. The quality of the performances is typical Robbins, which means he
rarely stumbles. Even his one political record, Ain't I Right ,
from 1966 is musically excellent, despite being an inflammatory anthem of
hard-line conservatism recorded during the Vietnam War which Columbia
refused to release. Everything else is far less political and typically
fine Robbins. This is, apparently as far as Bear's going to go with
Robbins at this point. No reissues of his 1970's Columbia material is
planned at this point. No matter. Taken as a whole, the quality of the set
is uniformly high. Booklet includes complete discography and an essay by
Colin Escott. (RK)
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| MARTY ROBBINS |
Epic 65966 |
Gunfighter Ballads & Trail Songs |
● CD $11.98 |
| Newly remastered
version of Classic 1959 album with three bonus tracks including the full
length version of El Paso.
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| MARTY ROBBINS |
Columbia CK 8435 |
More Greatest Hits |
● CD $9.98 |
This disc proves that Marty has enough good music to merit a
"more" greatest hits release. Includes El Paso/ I Told My
Heart/ Saddle Tramp and cowboy classics like Streets Of Laredo/ Red
River Valley and more. 12 songs in all, great sound quality, highly
recommended. (PG)
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| MARTY ROBBINS |
Columbia CK 31361 |
All-Time Greatest Hits |
● CD $11.98 |
2-LP set on one disc - this is Marty's top 20 from his later
years as a Columbia hitmaker. El Paso/ Streets Of Laredo/ Devil Woman/
You Gave Me A Mountain/ Kaw-Liga/ My Woman, My Woman, My Wife/ The Hanging
Tree/ Red River Valley/ Joli Girl/ It's A Sin/ Maria/ I Walk Alone/ Aloha
Oe and more.
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| MARTY ROBBINS |
Columbia CK 38870 |
A Lifetime Of Song |
● CD $11.98 |
20 songs - Tomorrow You'll Be Gone/ Knee Deep in the
Blues/ The Story of My Life/ Devil Woman/ The Hanging Tree, etc
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| MARTY ROBBINS |
Columbia C2K 48537 |
The Essential Marty Robbins |
● CD $24.98 |
This double CD Robbins package is the perfect collection for
someone who wants all Marty's hits and landmark recordings in one spot and
doesn't require the completeness of the Bear Family box (which only covers
1951-1958). This collection, beginning in 1951 and ending in 1982 (the
year Marty died) assembles 50 songs covering all of his big hits and other
favorites on two cassettes or CDs. Like most Robbins sets, it kicks off
with his first recording, the non-hit "Tomorrow You'll Be Gone,"
and proceeds through his "Mr. Teardrop" phrase, when weepy
ballads became his trademark. His brief flirtation with rockabilly is
covered by Elvis's "That's All Right," Chuck Berry's "Maybelline"
and Marty's own "Tennessee Toddy." The Mitch Miller era of
"A White Sport Coat (And A Pink Carnation)" and other teenage
pop ballad isn't ignored. Nor are his classic Western saga songs from
"El Paso" and "Big Iron" to "Song of the
Bandit" and of course, "The Hanging Tree." The collection
includes two samples of his Hawaiian ballads, "The Hawaiian Wedding
Song" and the superbly haunting "Beyond the Reef"
accompanied by legendary non-pedal steel guitarist Jerry Byrd. "Don't
Worry," his 1960 hit that featured the accidental invention of the
fuzztone, is also here. Later hits such as Gordon Lightfoot's "Ribbon
of Darkness," "I Walk Alone," Marty's own compositions
"My Woman, My Woman, My Wife," and "You Gave Me A
Mountain," his 1976 hit sequel to "El Paso," "El Paso
City" and "Among My Souvenirs" round it out. This is a far
more extensive collection than the previously released A Lifetime of Song
since it manages to give an overview of every aspect of Marty's career.
Rich Kienzle's detailed, well-written liner notes give excellent
background on all the high points. (AK)
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| MARTY ROBBINS |
Columbia CK 64763 |
The Story Of My Life - The Best Of Marty
Robbins |
● CD $11.98 |
18 of Marty's Top Ten hits - I'll Go On Alone/ I Can't
Quit (I've Gone Too Far)/ Knee Deep In The Blues/ The Story Of My Life/
Stairway Of Love/ El Paso/ Don't Worry/ Devil Woman/ Begging To You/
Ribbon Of Darkness, etc
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| MARTY ROBBINS |
S&P 714 |
All Around Cowboy |
● CD $11.98 |
CD issue of Marty's 1979 album.
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