Best Of 1966-79 CD

MUSIC

COUNTRY

Song Listing

Disc 1

Song Title

1. Where Is The Circus ~ Hank Thompson

2. He's Got A Way With Women ~ Hank Thompson

3. On Tap, In The Can, Or In The Bottle ~ Hank Thompson

4. Next Time I Fall In Love (I Won't) ~ Hank Thompson

5. Mark Of A Heel, The ~ Hank Thompson

6. Smoky The Bar ~ Hank Thompson

7. I've Come Awful Close ~ Hank Thompson

8. Most Of All ~ Hank Thompson

9. I See Them Everywhere ~ Hank Thompson

10. Oklahoma Home Brew ~ Hank Thompson

11. Wildwood Flower - (with Merle Travis) ~ Hank Thompson

12. Who Left The Door To Heaven Open ~ Hank Thompson

13. Older The Violin, The Sweeter The Music, The ~ Hank Thompson

14. Mama Don't 'Low ~ Hank Thompson

15. I Hear The South Callin' Me ~ Hank Thompson

16. King Of Western Swing, The ~ Hank Thompson

Album Notes and Credits

Notes & Personnel Info
	Recorded between 1966 and 1979.
	Liner Note Author: Larry Zwisohn.
	Photographer: Hank Thompson.
	Arrangers: Hank Levine; Hank Thompson; Harold Bradley; Harold Hensley; Joe Allison; Billy Gray.
	Hank Thompson didn't stop recording or having hits when he left Capitol Records, although given the lack of attention paid to his Warner and Dot albums (along with their scarcity on CD), it sometimes seems that way. Fact of the matter is, Thompson continued to chart steadily into the early '70s and as late as 1979 he had a Top 30 country hit. Also, he continued to deliver satisfying music, as Varese's terrific 1996 collection The Best of Hank Thompson: 1966-1979 proves. Spanning 16 tracks, this covers his brief time at Warner (he signed with them shortly after leaving Capitol in 1965 and was gone by 1968) and his decade stint at Dot (which eventually became ABC, then MCA); there are four Warner cuts, including a duet with Merle Travis, with the remaining 14 drawn from Dot/ABC. While it is true that his backing bands weren't quite as stunning as they were during the peak of his Capitol recordings and his material was a little inconsistent, with the productions being considerably more polished and streamlined, these are relative assessments -- compared to other straight-ahead country from the same era, Thompson's Warner and Dot material ranks very high indeed, and it's aged very well. Thompson's gifts as a writer, singer, and bandleader were so prodigious it would have been shocking if they had disappeared completely just because a few years passed and he switched labels, yet it's still a nice surprise to hear how flat-out fun this collection is. Thompson remains a sharp, clever songwriter -- he's great finding small, funny truths and twisting commonplace phrases, as on "He's Got a Way With Women" (which is followed up with "and he's just got away with mine") -- and a great judge of material, finding songs that suited his warm, friendly voice and his similarly wide open-hearted band. Even when a song gets a little silly -- such as "I See Them Everywhere," when Thompson starts seeing little green men when the bottle empties -- his delivery is so charming and the band so good, it's easy to roll along and just enjoy the sound of the band. Not all of his charting hits for Dot are here, but most are and it's a great summary of the latter half of Thompson's active recording career, offering substantial proof that when he was at his best, he was still as good as ever was. Hopefully, more of this material -- either reissues of actual albums or a box set -- will see eventually see the light of day. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine
Producer: Joe Allison; Larry Butler; Bill Inglot; Cary E. Mansfield (Compilation)
Engineer: Bill Inglot
Musical Guests
	Merle Travis

Artist Overview

It is hard to overstate the impact that Hank Thompson has had on country music. In the 1940s and '50s, with his famous backing band the Brazos Valley Boys, Thompson perfected his style of honky tonk swing, a chart-topping recipe that fused the poly-instrumental richness of Western swing with the prominent vocal/snare tandem of honky tonk. Standing tall in glittering Nudie suits, Thompson always emphasized showmanship, but his resonant baritone was always the star of the show, launching chart hits -- including "The Wild Side of Life" and "A Six Pack to Go," -- in an unprecedented six consecutive decades. He also stretched boundaries as a businessman with a pioneering TV show, the country's first Las Vegas show, and first solo live release.

Compilation Appearances

	Country Love Songs
	Brewed In Texas Volume 3
	Best Of Country

Associated Artists and Works

	Clark, Roy
	Wagoner, Porter

Technical Info

	Release Date : 10/22/1996
	Original Release Date : 1996
	Catalog ID : 5747
	Label : Var?se Vintage
	Number of Discs : 1
	Studio/Live : Studio
	Mono/Stereo : Stereo
	SPAR Code : n/a
	UPC : 00030206574722

Best Of 1966-79 (1996)

Product Details: