Consumer Guide Album

Hank Williams: The Essential Hank Williams Collection: Turn Back the Years [Mercury, 2005]
Musically as well as lyrically, Williams was so simple he was profound--Irving Berlin was Brecht-Weill by comparison. Without benefit of drums, his pulse was livelier than that of any competing country singer even when he was very sad, which whatever the tempo was most of the time. But he was also mawkish and austere, and his best-known titles have been played to death. So truth to tell, I generally pull out Lefty Frizzell when I want me some honky-tonk. Now maybe I won't. Although this triple has room for more than the 60 titles it gives up, and the 10 CDs of his box set include major performances it passes by, its size feels just right. First it breaks up the classics with beguiling semi-obscurities. Then it breaks up the semi-obscurities with classics. A