Consumer Guide Album

Moe Bandy: The Best of Moe Bandy [Columbia, 1977]
Despite the definitive "Hank Williams, You Wrote My Life," Bandy's music on Columbia has followed the pattern of such GRC anomalies as "Bandy the Rodeo Clown" and "Cowboys and Playboys"--if not tinged with pop outright, then at least softer rhythmically or melodically. I like these songs when they're good. But they misrepresent him--the cheated-upon protagonist of "The Biggest Airport in the World" is naive, which misses Bandy's point completely. This compiles eight GRC hits (including the above-named anomalies) and the two CBS songs I've mentioned. It's an unusually solid country LP, and the GRC albums are all out of print anyway. But I miss "Smoke Filled Room" and "I'm Gonna Listen to Me" and "I Stop and Get Up (to Go Out of My Mind)." A-