At the peak of his career in 1951, Hank Williams recorded 143 songs for the Mother's Best Flour Company. Hank sang with his regular studio band and recorded his hits as well as many songs he never recorded commercially anywhere else. From this amazing legacy, Time Life is proud to release this historic 3 CD, 54 track collection drawn from the very best of the Mother's Best recordings.

Customer Rating:
Summary: Hank Williams : Unreleased Recordings
Comment:
This is a great product. I bought it for my brother for Xmas, as he is a huge classic country music fan.The recordings are very well done especially on the vocal tracks, and these remastered 57 year old recordings sound really fine.I would strongly recommend this anthology to any classic country music or Hank Williams fan as being a "must have".

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Customer Rating:
Summary: Hank unplugged -- STUNNING
Comment: 'Hank Williams: The Unreleased Recordings' is an event which, like the transition from Newtonian to quantum physics, serves to change our fundamental frame of reference.

We all knew about the Hank Williams legend -- the prolific songwriting, the remarkable voice. But despite the obvious talent on display, many of Hank's extant studio recordings have a stilted feel to them, perhaps reflecting the tampering of producers and arrangers. 'The Unreleased Recordings' shatters that limited understanding forever. These one-take, full-group performances, taped in the style of a live show, are the equivalent of 'Hank Williams Unplugged.' For the first time, we realize just how unimaginably high Hank Williams set the bar of vocal performance.

The sound quality of these performances reveals Hank singing with what the liner notes aptly describe as 'frightening intensity,' an intensity that might be compared to Maria Callas. His band colleagues, particularly fiddle player Jerry Rivers and steel guitarist Don Helms, instrumentally echo every vocal lick with utter precision. In combination, this team delivers a devastating wallop.

Exposed to 'The Unreleased Recordings,' people who don't listen to country music and have never heard of Hank Williams get a faraway look in their eyes, and just fall silent. Vocals like this did not exist until now, in any genre. It's almost unbelievable.

Even after many playings of this album, I still have difficulty accepting that it is real. It just cannot be true that lost recordings of this quality, of a singer and a band this great, have been dropped into our midst like an unanticipated Rosetta stone, 57 years later. But if you can suspend disbelief, 'The Unreleased Recordings' is probably the most important, and likely the greatest, country album of our lifetimes.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: What a gift!
Comment: I heard about this CD when Scott Simon interviewed Hank's daughter Jett Williams on his show on NPR. I am a Hank fan, so I couldn't wait to get it. Even so, I was initially a little disappointed by all of the hymns; but because it was HANK singing, I listened anyway. I am glad I did. Hank is a legend and if you want to know why, buy this CD and give it a good listen. Hank's singing and the harmony by The Drifting Cowboys just cannot be beat. The sound quality is very good. There are familiar songs by Hank here, but there are many I have not heard him do before--"Cool Water" and "I'll Have a New Life" are stand-outs for me. If there is more unreleased Hank music out there, Jett please get it to us!

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Customer Rating:
Summary: Hank Lives on!
Comment: This is an amazing album. It is refreshing to hear these recordings, mainly because it's hard to find good CDs of Hank Sr.'s music. This album also has amazing sound quality and it is a steal at this price.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: For the Hardcore-Hungry-for-Hank Fan....
Comment: Two Things to say.

Some of us are HankHorny for anything new. Pics, words, facts....for that type, this is good.

SOme of us are new to the Hank Legend, Body of work, talent, call it what you will....its bad.

Seriously. I loved it. I breathed in the words he spoke, sometimes awkwardly between songs. I loved hearing the CHAT that Tumbled out of his mouth.

To my ears, I felt like I was privy to something hidden from me thus far in my LIFE and mine ears were gobblin'em up.

The music, the songs...not as much (uninspired an tired). Even the previously unreleased stuff. Hell...he was singing this stuff at, what 7:00 am...after travelin all night...he sounds haggard.

Bless his heart.

Buy it if you love him and adore him. And are WELL aquainted with him.

If you are new to Hank and want to get your feet wet, maybe start with a compilation of his best hits.

A priceless possesion to me. Thats my best truest answer from the heart.

Thats the way Ol' Hank gave it to us.

Such a hard way to do things.

I hope the next set of "MOther's Best" recordings has a little more talk and a lot less ....whatever the hell it was that made this set dull and tired.

***** Stars for Ol'Hank knocking it out of the Park with Cherokee Boogie tho, he really throws it down and shakes his "tommy hawk"....Very Cute...Good Morning!

Chas

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