Customer Reviews
Average Customer Review
(9 customer reviews) 16 of 16 people found the following review helpful
30 years of greatness: honky-tonk to countrypolitan,
August 21, 2007 hyperbolium (Earth, USA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Essential Ray Price (Audio CD)
The towering talent of Ray Price split into two distinct periods. His works of the 1950s and early 1960s were country and honky-tonk whose twangy sound will be surprising to those familiar with the smooth countrypolitan work he began in the 1960s. Columbia/Legacy's new two-disc "Essential" collection admirably captures the highpoints of both eras, and in doing so provides an excellent overview of his transition from honky-tonker to crooner. Price's commercial popularity has ensured that his hits have remained in print, but single disc anthologies necessarily short-change either his early or late sides. The similarly titled single disc from 1991, for example, covers only the years 1951 through 1962.
Disc one opens in 1950, before Price had signed with Columbia and began recording in Nashville. "Jealous Lies" was recorded in Dallas and released on the Bullet label. Price sings in the sweet croon then popular in Country & Western recordings, and to which he'd return in an even...Read more
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful
Finally Justice to Ray Price,
September 30, 2007 R. A. McMurray "Kern" (Glendale, Arizona) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Essential Ray Price (Audio CD)
They have finally released a cd that does Ray Price's career justice. It is filled with all the essential sings that made Ray Price one of the best, if not the best country singer ever. I wish they would have included "Here Comes My Baby" from the Burning Memories album on this and then it would be complete with all my favorite Ray Price songs. Now can they only do Faron Young such justice. I highly recommend this CD to anyone who likes country music because Ray Price is one of the top five country singers ever.
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
From honky tonk to hankies -- a great career summary,
September 9, 2007 DJ Joe Sixpack (...in Middle America) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Essential Ray Price (Audio CD)
Ray Price was one of the towering giants of country's classic honky-tonk era... He inherited his pal, Hank Williams' band and crafted his own version of the hard country sound, eventually settling on a mix of Texas dance music and western swing that was some of the finest music of the 1950s.
This 2-CD best-of set is a study in contrasts, charting Price's path from honkytonker to lounge singer, paralleling the same evolution in the country music industry of the 1950s, '60s and '70s. Disc One is dominated with his hard country hits of the mid-1950s -- the powerful loping thump of the Texas shuffle propels heavenly hits such as I've Got A New Heartache," "Crazy Arms" and "My Shoes Keep Walking Back To You." There were ballads as well, but Price excelled at uptempo material, and up through the early '60s that's what he concentrated on. Even by the mid-1960s, when he'd become a countrypolitan crooner, Price still cooked up stunners like "A Way To Survive" and "Burning...Read more
