features in: Album Chart of 1951 ● Album Chart of the Decade: 1950s |
Strategically issued in November to coincide with Hank’s appearance on The Perry Como Chesterfield Show, Hank’s debut LP must have disappointed the MGM executives when it failed to chart. Hank’s loyal fans already had the songs – they had been released as sides in the closing years of the 1940s – and casual buyers were not tempted to part with their hard-earned. Billboard theorized that the label had decided not to release an album with new sides because it “would only spread jockey and juke plays too thinly instead of getting the concentrated push on a single record”. Whilst there’s nothing to get overly excited about, there’s not a bad track on the set, which includes 5 Hank originals and 3 cover versions, most notably his famous rendition of Leon Payne’s “Lost Highway” which opens up proceedings on Side 1. For me, the highlight track is his version of “Wedding Bells”, first done by Bill Carlisle in 1947. Hank’s confident but mournful timbre is perfectly suited to the age old “should’ve been me” tragi-song. Best of his own is “Mansion on the Hill” (although producer Fred Rose had a hand in some of the lyrics), where Hank bemoans the cold heart of an old flame: “I know you’re alone with your pride dear, in your loveless mansion on the hill” – his hit from 1948 portraying atypical Hankisms.
The Jukebox Rebel
08–Jun–2015
Tracklist |
A1 | [02:46] Hank Williams with his Drifting Cowboys - I Saw The Light (Hank Williams) Country |
A2 | [02:36] Hank Williams with his Drifting Cowboys - Mansion On The Hill (Hank Williams, Fred Rose) Country |
A3 | [02:46] Hank Williams with his Drifting Cowboys - Six More Miles (To The Graveyard) (Hank Williams) Country |
A4 | [02:54] Hank Williams with his Drifting Cowboys - Wedding Bells (Claude Boone) Country |
B1 | [02:42] Hank Williams with his Drifting Cowboys - Lost Highway (Leon Payne) Country |
B2 | [02:46] Hank Williams with his Drifting Cowboys - I’ve Just Told Mama Goodbye (Slim Sweet, Curley Kinsey) Country |
B3 | [02:46] Hank Williams and The Country Boys - Wealth Won’t Save Your Soul (Hank Williams) Country |
B4 | [02:46] Hank Williams with his Drifting Cowboys - A House Without Love (Hank Williams) Country |