40 #1 Hits

This is the first Merle Haggard collection (outside of the Down Every Road Box Set)that spans his biggest hit years with Capitol, MCA and Epic. Including duets, he had 38 #1's on the Billboard Country Singles Charts. They're all here, with 2 that went to #2 ("If We're Not Back In Love By Monday", and "I'm Always On A Mountain When I Fall"). Who knows why the compilers picked those two over a couple of other Haggard songs that went to #2 (e.g. "Ramblin' Fever"), since it's never explained in the liner notes (which are pretty good). Be aware that some of Haggard's best known classics: "Swinging Doors", "Bottle Let Me Down", "My Own Kind Of Hat", "Rainbow Stew" and "I Take A Lot Of Pride In What I Am", didn't go to #1, but you shouldn't have trouble locating them on one of his CD's. I suggest 2 out of print jobs: Capitol Collector's Series and Rhino Records More of the Best. Both are easy to find as used...Read more

As I've explained in reviews of some older compilations of his music, it wasn't always easy to collect all Merle's classic songs that really mattered. The boxed set, Down every road, made that task very easy for those who could afford it. Now comes this double-CD containing forty of his most important songs. Some songs, now regarded as classics, were released only as B-sides, weren't released on singles at all, or didn't reach the top of the charts, so this set will not satisfy some diehard fans. Among the songs that do not qualify for inclusion here are Today I started loving you again, Silver wings, All my friends are gonna be strangers, Swinging doors, Bottle let me down and I take a lot of pride in what I am. Nevertheless, this is the strongest collection you're ever likely to find of Merle's music on a double-CD.

The set contains all 38 of his Billboard number one country hits, plus two that made number two. It may be that these two (If we're not back in love by...Read more

40 #1 Hits is just what its name implies: forty Country chart-topping Merle Haggard singles from 1967's "Branded Man" to `87's "Twinkle, Twinkle Lucky Star."

Possessing a voice that was smooth as cream in his youth, Haggard's greatest strength ultimately lie in the breadth of his palette. We find home-spun sentimentality ("Daddy Frank"), blue-collar pride ("Working Man Blues"), flag waving ("Okie From Muskogee," which he wrote as a joke) and outlawry. "Sing Me Back Home" stems from a prison buddy's execution after a guard was killed in an escape attempt Hag didn't join. The banjo in "The Legend Of Bonnie And Clyde" creates a link with Earl Scruggs' "Foggy Mountain Breakdown" runs in Arthur Penn's 1967 film Bonnie & Clyde.

His topical songs' essential character is an outsider, be it an ex-con ("Branded Man"), scorned poor woman ("Hungry Eyes") or alienated worker ("Big City," whose fiddle recalls old Wills discs). The branded man's line "I'd like to hold my head up and...Read more