40 #1 Hits

I grew up listening to Merle but there's still a lot of songs on here I don't know, or I just don't remember. Lots of storytelling about good times and bad times. Love the pro-american songs. The quality is pretty good but you have to consider the recording technology of the time. 40 songs is a lot of songs. If you only have one CD of Merle Haggard this would be the one to get. It arrived just fine even though it was just shipped in a padded envelope. It's not uncommon for jewel cases to break. I remove my CDs and put them in folders anyway so it doesn't matter to me.

According to Billboard, Merle Haggard from Bakersfield, CA had 90 chart releases from 1963 to 1990. Think about that statistic! All 38 #1 songs are here on this two CD release. Two of Merle's 8 #2 hits round out the collection. Personal favorites are highly subjective but his reviewer favored "Things Aren't Funny Anymore", "and "Sing Me Back Home". The latter was dedicated to a former fellow inmate at San Quentin who was executed for murdering a prison guard. The former was composed while a marriage was breaking up. VERY special mention goes to " I Wonder If They Ever Think of Me". It's about a POW in Vietnam who is afraid his family and friends back in the World have forgotten him. That must have happened in real life far too often. The only tracks that failed to satisfy were the 3 duets, "Bar Room Buddies" - with Clint Eastwood! - "Pancho and Lefty" with Willie Nelson and "Yesterday's Wine" with George Jones. There is a fine quasi-duet with the ubiquitous Janie Fricke, "A Place to Fall Apart". Merle has always admitted to be heavily influenced by Lefty Frizzell and the similarity of styles is unmistakable, more to the credit of both men. Linear notes by Nancy Henderson embellish the collection and give context to several of the tracks. (Some may feel that the small, dropped out typeface doesn't do the insert complete justice.) Before reading Joel Whitburn's "Billboard Book of Country Music", this reviewer was unaware that many of Hag's best-known work did NOT attain #1 status. That list would include "Ramlin' Fever", and "Misery and Gin". Their exclusions should be ignored. The final word here is that this CD is a worthwhile addition to any serious classic country collection. For the $$, it is also a great value. Testimony such as that may appear trite, but it is on target in this case

Love the songs so real.

Love the music of Merle Haggard since I was a kid. All the songs sung so soulfully. Some songs were about troubled periods of his life, or people that did worse in theirs, but ultimately the message of his life was if you keep going, and change what needs changing in your life for the better you will be free to do your best and win at life. Like sitting with a friend and him telling you his history, and how he felt along the way. Would highly recommend this 2 CD set.

Enjoyed listening to some old favorites

GOOD OLD TIME COUNTRY MUSIC.

I haven’t opened this CD, it has cracks in the outer plastic so I don’t know what condition it is inside. We’re in the middle of moving. The last thing I need is a cracked product.

40 great songs

Great

love it, love the singer

Love that older Music

This is a great collection of songs by the Hag.

As advertised