Customer Reviews
Average Customer Review
(4 customer reviews) 29 of 30 people found the following review helpful
Excellent Reissue of Prime Bob Wills,
July 19, 2001 Ron Frankl (North Carolina) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Boot Heel Drag: The MGM Years (Audio CD)
The MGM recordings of Bob Wills finally get a decent and respectful reissue with this 2 CD set. Many of these tracks were previously available on Polydor's 24 Greatest Hits, a shoddy package that featured perhaps the worst sound I've ever encountered on a reissue of studio recordings. Happily, the sound is pretty good on Boot Heel Drag, and it's nice to have these important recordings available again. Wills, of course, was the legendary creator of Western Swing, an infectious hybrid of country, jazz, and Texas fiddle music. He led his band, the Texas Playboys for almost four decades, and his influence remains enormous even today, with such artists as Willie Nelson, George Strait, Asleep At the Wheel and BR549 all owing a debt to this innovator. In the late Thirties and early Forties, Bob Wills & His Texas Playboys were one of the most popular live acts in the country, outdrawing big names like Artie Shaw and Glen Miller in the southwest and California.After a long and...Read more
13 of 13 people found the following review helpful
Great Music, Great Recordings, Great Package Finally,
April 25, 2003 Tony Thomas (SUNNY ISLES BEACH, FL USA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Boot Heel Drag: The MGM Years (Audio CD)
As the previous comments make, those of us who bought the 24 Hits Version of Bob's MGM recordings might have feared to buy this, because 24 Hits was an awful selection, recorded awfully, with next to non existent notes. Surprise!!! This is a well recorded, well documented, fun collection of good music. If you like Western Swing and you don't have this, you need to buy it. If you don't like or know about Western Swing, you will love it after you hear this. What shines is the band, and the degree to which the guitar-trio (usally an electric guitar, the steel guitar, and an electric mandolin) sound that came out after the war began to be perfected in a different blusier, rockier way by the Will's succession of musicians. The stuff on this record is much hotter and wilder than compared to the way Jimmy Wyble Noel Boggs and Cameron Hill played it with Wills during the War and carried on into the Spade Cooley Orchestra, and established as the dominant style of Western Swing. It's...Read more
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful
Prime Wills,
June 8, 2004 Rene M. Passarieu Jr. (Carlsbad, CA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Boot Heel Drag: The MGM Years (Audio CD)
This package is a must! While some feel that these recordings are a step down from the Columbia years of the 30s and early 40s, I feel like the MGM years are actually the realization of everything that came before. It's remarkable how much spirit there was in these recordings, considering Bob's popularity was waning. You'd never know it! Also, while Tommy Duncan was Bob's best loved and known vocalist, I think everyone who fills in for him after 1948 when he left is just as good. It makes it interesting to hear the different vocal styles and adds variety to the classic Wills sound. Get this package. It's probably the best primer for the money if you've never heard Bob, and a great place to go if you already have the Columbia recordings. Enjoy. There'll never be another one like Bob Wills!
