Like many Rhino compilations, this is geared more to the novice or the casual fan than the aficionado, but that's not a criticism. If someone wants a basic primer of the bluegrass sound past and present that manages to be accessible and avoid unduly clichéd track selection, this 18-song compilation fits the bill well. Most of the biggest names are ...
As a compilation, this 20-track disc is one of the better recent Vanguard releases, assembling a quartet of key Ian & Sylvia (including "You Were On My Mind" and "Someday Soon") and Mimi and Richard Farina songs, alongside duets between Bob Dylan and Joan Baez at Newport, Bob Gibson and Hamilton Camp, Dylan and Pete Seeger, Flatt & Scruggs, and ...
In what basically amounts to a reissue of 1992's similarly titled Complete Mercury Sessions, Universal's Complete Mercury Recordings has improved upon the original by putting the songs in chronological order and including terrific liner notes by folk historian Mary Katherine Aldin. While both Flatt & Scruggs releases include the early classics ...
Flatt & Scruggs' volume of Mercury/Universal's 20th Century Masters - The Millennium Collection is an excellent, basic collection of 12 of the duo's finest recordings for Mercury. Many, though not all, of their signature tunes are here, including "Foggy Mountain Breakdown," "Roll in My Sweet Baby's Arms," "I'll Just Pretend," and "Pike County ...
Excepting a few years with Mercury at the beginning of their career, Flatt & Scruggs made all of their studio recordings for Columbia. This double-disc set is the most useful survey of their work for the label, spanning 1950 to 1969, and throwing in three unreleased tracks along the way. In addition to the expected sterling bluegrass, it has their ...
When Flatt & Scruggs appeared on the Carnegie Hall stage in December of 1962, it was proof that bluegrass music had hit the big time. Guitarist and singer Lester Flatt and banjo god Earl Scruggs (who has been credited, not entirely accurately, with inventing the three-finger picking style that distinguishes bluegrass banjo playing from its old ...
Part of Columbia's excellent Country Classics survey series, this 25-track roundup of Americana-themed material takes in the vast landscape by way of geography, history, and patriotism. Ranging from early honky tonk-era sides to '80s roots, Columbia Country Classics, Vol. 3: Americana spotlights hits by Marty Robbins ("El Paso"), Johnny Horton ( ...
Putting together one of Scruggs' best albums (Live at Kansas State) with one of his less interesting (Dueling Banjos) made good marketing sense, but it makes for an uneven CD. Tracks 11-22 are the real treats here, off the live album, and the price is low enough that one can regard the other ten songs as a bonus, with some occasionally brilliant ...
This two-fer from Collectables features a pair of out-of-print Flatt & Scruggs LPs: Hard Travelin' Featuring the Ballad of Jed Clampett and Final Fling. Originally issued in 1963 and 1970, these 23 tracks are quite different in tone, but funneled through Flatt & Scruggs' arrangements they manage to combine traditional bluegrass and modern folk and ...
This isn't the definitive Flatt & Scruggs collection, but it does contain a majority of the duo's best Columbia sides, including "'Tis Sweet to Be Remembered," "The Ballad of Jed Clampett," "Pearl Pearl Pearl," and the hit version of "Foggy Mountain Breakdown" from Bonnie & Clyde. It nicely encapsulates the two-disc 'Tis Sweet to Be Remembered ...
One of the first Millennium Collections to tackle a genre instead of an artist's work, 20th Century Masters - The Millennium Collection: Bluegrass does a respectable job of covering the style within a dozen songs. The collection ranges from bluegrass pioneers Bill Monroe & His Blue Grass Boys' "In the Pines" and "Blue Moon of Kentucky" to ...
The Best of Bluegrass, Vol. 1 is an excellent 22-track sampler of the genre, containing most of the most famous songs in bluegrass, including the Country Gentlemen's "Can't You Hear Me Calling?," and the Lonesome Pine Fiddlers' "Blue Moon of Kentucky," Flatt & Scruggs' "Roll in My Sweet Baby's Arms" and "Foggy Mountain Breakdown," and the original ...
Recorded between 1951 and 1966, the 52 tracks that make up Columbia/Legacy's Foggy Mountain Gospel compilation represent not only a high point in the careers of Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs, but a pinnacle for the bluegrass-gospel genre itself. The material, pulled from seven albums and a smattering of singles recorded during the duo's Columbia ...
The "Hill Street Blues" theme is from 1981, but otherwise everything on this compilation is from the '50s and '60s, the period that produced the television themes that are remembered the most fondly. A few of the most popular items in this mini-genre are here, including Flatt & Scruggs' "Ballad of Jed Clampett" (from The Beverly Hillbillies), ...
This four-CD set isn't quite as comprehensive as it might have been. All of the major bases are covered, from Paul Robeson, the Weavers, and Count Basie to Alison Brown and John McEuen, and even Circus Maximus ("Oops -- I Can Dance") is here, with cuts by the Frost ("Sweet Lady Love") and the Third Power ("Gettin' Together"). But there's no Sandy ...
It started as early as 1966, when Earl Scruggs convinced his partner, Lester Flatt, to record some songs outside of the bluegrass tradition. Among them were some Bobby Bare cuts: "Passing Through," "Shut Your Face, I'm Talking to Your Head," "Before You Die," and "Take Me Home to Mama." In the same year there was the song that Ralph Stanley would ...
With some of the genre's most recognizable songs having already been used, Appalachian Stomp: More Bluegrass Classics isn't quite up to the level of the first Appalachian Stomp collection, which remains one of the best introductory bluegrass surveys available. However, it does maintain a similarly high standard of quality, featuring selections by ...
The integral early recordings of this seminal bluegrass band. Included is their classic "Foggy Mountain Breakdown," "Roll in My Sweet Baby's Arms," "Old Salty Dog Blues" and others. It's indispensable for bluegrass fans. ~ Michael McCall, All Music Guide
Spanning three generations of bluegrass, this collection includes performances from the Stanley Brothers, Flatt and Scruggs, the Foggy Mountain Boys, Bill Monroe and Ricky Skaggs. ~ Jason Ankeny, All Music Guide
World's Greatest Bluegrass Bands is a terrific 32-track collection that features representative selections from many of the biggest names in bluegrass. Bill Monroe may be missing, but Carl Story, the Osborne Brothers, Joe Maphis, Mac Wiseman, Lester Flatt, and the Jones Brothers are nothing to sneeze at. It may not be a perfect collection and it ...
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