Hank Williams Sr - Alone With His Guitar

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Music reviews of Alone With His Guitar

Music Review: Puzzling selection of rare demos and radio performances
Rating: 3 Stars

So what's the point? The only real differentiator here seems to be the "ECD" or "enhanced CD" elements, and these are none too impressive. The song lyrics and biography could just as easily have been included in the booklet - having to boot your computer to see the lyrics isn't very convenient. The liner notes (printed in the booklet), read aloud by Hank III shows him to be a better singer than speaker; the accompanying animations add little. The "rare" audio clips of Audrey Williams, Bill Monroe, Lefty Frizzell, Little Jimmy Dickens and Faron Young are all taken from the previously released "Reflections By Those Who Loved Him," and the couple of Hank clips (one of a political spot, the other taken from his radio program) are entertaining once, maybe twice. The screensaver features some nice pictures, but again, nothing to motivate the production of this disc.

To add insult to injury, when played in the CD-ROM drive of my Macintosh, the ECD occasionally stopped mid-song and spun-up to high-speed, as though I'd double clicked its desktop icon, attempting to access the extended content. Perhaps this is due to a setting on my computer, I don't know. What I do know, is that I shouldn't have to know, just to listen to some music through my computer's CD-ROM drive.

The tracks themselves are certainly worth spinning. The stripped down presentations lay Williams voice bare, and the song selection includes a good blend of classics - both Williams' and others ("Cool Water" "My Bucket's Got a Hole In It" "Honky Tonk Blues" "Kaw-Liga") as well as lesser-known titles. The sources range from clean studio demos (recorded at various times between 1947 and 1952) and radio transcriptions (from 1949) to rather scratchy acetates. It's nothing unusual for material of this vintage and rarity.

William Gay's liner notes - more a personal remembrance of his childhood idolization of Williams - will seem over the top to all but the faithful. He writes of the connection Williams made with his audience through the miracle of radio, yet the CD he's annotating doesn't recreate this magic. Musical radio programs such a Gay alludes to were a balance of music, comedy, characters, continuity, structure, pacing and commercials. The music that's presented here is but one element, and neither the packaging or the extended CD elements provide the necessary context. This lack of setting doesn't rob the music of its own essential qualities, but it fails to illustrate the picture Gay describes. Collin Escott's additional notes tell the tales of the songs, and fill in a bit of history on the recordings themselves.

As noted at the outset, this release seems unnecessary - it adds little or nothing to the extant Williams catalog. The ECD elements are gimmicky and do little to enhance the value of this disc. Collectors will be unhappy with the skimpy selection (and repetition from other packages), and those wanting a helping of Williams best-known hits will be put off both by the title rundown and recording quality. I'm sure the producers had a point, I just can't figure out what it is.

Description of Alone With His Guitar

Country CDs

• Music > Styles
• Pop