[78-L] Hank Williams - Unreleased (Mothers Best Flour program)
Thomas Stern
sternth at attglobal.net
Sun Dec 7 19:29:03 PST 2008
Anyone interested in Hank Williams will probably know about the
recordings he made in 1951/52 for a weekday morning 15 min. radio broadcast
on WSM.
These recordings have been the subject of ownership legal proceedings. With
those
issues settled, these recordings are now being issued on CD.
An interesting explanation by producer COLIN ESCOTT of the MULTIPLE issues
of this
material was posted to a Hank Williams site, and I've copied it below. I've
also added
some detail.
IMO, the way this material is being marketed is collector unfriendly. The
same material
has been issued in 3 sets which have exactly the same basic 3-cd's of songs
culled from the programs
(some with surrounding studio chatter), each with different "extras"; and a
couple of single discs
with extracts from the basic 3-cd's, with their own unique "extras".
I think they should have issued a "deluxe" set with ALL the "extras",
and an "ordinary" edition. I hope that they will do that for subsequent
volumes.
IMO, the basic Time-Life issue (the one most easily purchased) should be
avoided if
one can get the Sam's Club edition. It has exactly the same packaging and
3-cd's,
but has a DVD of interviews. The Readers Digest set has markedly inferior
packaging,
again the same basic 3-cd's, but does have an extra CD with 3 complete
broadcasts-I find it
quite interesting to hear the complete shows.
Price considerations: the Time-Life set lists for $40, but is available
for $30-32 from
the usual cd sources. The least expensive I've seen is $25 from Daedalus.
The Sam's
Club set is $30. The Readers Digest is $60, there are sometimes discounts
available which
reduce price by 20% (i.e. down to $48 - the most expensive and worst
packaging). If anyone knows
of other lower prices for any of these, please let me know.
Any questions, comments?
Best wishes, Thomas.
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ISSUED:
TIME-LIFE 80023-D (6 10583 24542 6) ONLY at WAL-MART $9
1. Blue Eyes Crying In The Rain
2. On Top of Old Smoky
3. Dust On The Bible
4. Have I Told You Lately That I Love You
5. I'll Have A New Life
6. Softly and Tenderly
7. There's Nothing As Sweet As My Baby
8. Pins and Needles (in My Heart)
9. Searching for A Soldiers Grave
10. Tennessee Border
11. Thy Burdens are Greater Than Mine
12. Hey! Good Lookin'
13. The Prodigal Son
14. When The Saints Go Marchin' In
15. I'll Sail My Ship Alone
BONUS TRACK
16. Hank Williams and Cousin Louie Buck Mother's Best Li'l Ol' Boys! (nearly
6 minutes of chatter).
TIME-LIFE 80024-D (6 10583 24552 3) ONLY at BARJAN supplied truck stops
$10
1. Dust On The Bible
2. Drifting Too Far From The Shore
3. I'll Fly Away
4. Farther Along (version ONLY on this CD)
5. Gathering Flowers for the Master's Bouquet
6. The Old Country Church
7. The Prodigal Son
8. Precious Lord, Take My Hand
9. Wait For The Light To Shine
10. Where He Leads Me
11. When The Saints Go Marchin' In
12. When God Dips His Love In My Heart
TIME-LIFE 80031-D (6 10583 24502 5) available through retail distribution
$40
3-cd's (80025-D, 80026-D, 80027-D),
packaged in 1 cd wide, 2 cd high digipak case, with bound in booklet with
comprehensive notes,
photos, ephemera.
CD DISC 1:
1. Blue Eyes Crying In the Rain
2. Dust On the Bible
3. I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry
4. I Heard My Savior Calling Me
5. Precious Lord, Take My Hand
6. Hey, Good Lookin'
7. On Top of Old Smoky
8. I Can't Tell My Heart That
9. I Dreamed That the Great Judgment Morning
10. Next Sunday Darling is My Birthday
11. At the First Fall of Snow
12. Dear John
13. Blind Child's Prayer, The
14. I'll Have a New Life
15. On the Banks of the Pontchartrain
16. Low and Lonely
17. Drifting Too Far From the Shore
18. I'm Gonna Sing
CD DISC 2:
1. I Can't Help It (If I'm Still In Love With You)
2. Seaman's Blues
3. Prodigal Son, The
4. Cherokee Boogie
5. Where He Leads Me
6. From Jerusalem To Jericho
7. Cool Water
8. I've Got My One-Way Ticket To the Sky
9. Searching For a Soldier's Grave
10. California Zephyr
11. Softly and Tenderly
12. Just When I Needed You
13. Gathering Flowers For the Master's Bouquet
14. Why Should We Try Any More
15. Old Country Church, The
16. May You Never Be Alone
17. When the Fire Comes Down
18. Lonely Tombs
CD DISC 3:
1. Picture's From Life's Other Side
2. I'll Fly Away
3. Cold Cold Heart
4. Have I Told You Lately That I Love You
5. When God Dips His Love In My Heart
6. Thy Burdens Are Greater Than Mine
7. When the Saints Go Marchin' In
8. I'll Sail My Ship Alone
9. Wedding Bells
10. Mind Your Own Business
11. You Blotted My Happy Schooldays
12. Where the Soul Never Dies
13. Pins and Needles (In My Heart)
14. Tennessee Border
15. There's Nothing As Sweet As My Baby
16. Wait For the Light To Shine
17. If I Didn't Love You
18. Pale Horse and His Rider, The
TIME-LIFE 80031-D (6 10583 24612 4) ONLY at SAM'S CLUB $30
3-cd's (80025-D, 80026-D, 80027-D), 1 DVD (80028-X), EXACTLY SAME PACKAGING
as above.
READER'S DIGEST MUSIC SSTCD07690 $60
3-cd's (SFLM07690-1/-2/-3)
same contents as Time-Life 80025-D/80026-D/80027-D.
packaged in 4-cd jewel case, extremely abbreviated annotations.
BONUS CD (SFLM07690-4) COMPLETE MOTHER'S BEST SHOW
Show 1
1. Intro (excerpt of Lovesick Blues)
2. On Top Of Old Smoky
3. Columbus Stockade Blues
4. The Prodigal Son
Show 2
5. Intro (excerpt of Lovesick Blues)
6. I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry
7. Corrina, Corrina
8. I Heard My Savior Calling Me
Show 3
9. Intro (excerpt of Lovesick Blues)
10. Have I Told You Lately That I Love You
11. Sally Goodin
12. When The Saints Go Marchin' In
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COLIN ESCOTT article:
September, 2008
The basic 3-CD edition includes 54 songs. There is SOME chatter, but the
feeling was that, for a general audience, the chatter was interesting once
or twice while the music bears repeated listening. The chatter was included
if it was felt to be very interesting (eg when Hank explains that "I Can't
Help It" had never been heard before by anyone) or if the chatter came over
the musical intro or outro. There are no complete shows. The official
release date was October 28th, 2008. Time-Life
The 3-CD set is augmented with a DVD for a Sam's Club exclusive. The DVD
features a series of conversations totaling 45 minutes between Jett, Don
Helms (his last ever interview), Big Bill Lister, and WSM engineer Glenn
Snoddy. The segs in which Jett talks with Don and Big Bill one-on-one are
very moving. You DO have to be a member to order on line from Sam's Club.
The basic 3-CD set is augmented with a 4th disc for Reader's Digest mail
order. The 4th disc includes three complete shows (WEBMASTER: I believe the
three shows will be #8-B1, #10-B1 & #156). The Reader's Digest Store (Music
& Video/American Legends). No Canadian or other foreign country orders can
be accepted.
The Walmart single CD features 15 songs from the 3-CD set, plus a bonus
track of Hank and Louie Buck talking.
Barjan is a truck stop jobber. The set for them features 12 gospel songs,
one of which, "I'll Fly Away," isn't available elsewhere.
Now I realize that cassettes of the Mother's Best shows have been making the
rounds among fans for some years, but I think everyone will be astonished at
the sound on these releases. Back in 1981 when the shows were 30 years old,
Bob Pinson arranged for them to be transferred to tape at the Country Music
Hall of Fame. Those transfers have never been heard from that day to this.
Time-Life acquired those transfers and then gave them to Joe Palmaccio, who
engineered the 10-CD Mercury/Polygram set. Joe carefully applied
noise-reduction technology in such a way that the presence is unimpaired.
These truly sound infinitely better than the MGM studio recordings because
the studio recordings were made to acetate and transferred to tape. After
transfer, MGM applied compressors, limiters, and filters that robbed the
sound of a great deal of presence. The Mother's Best recordings were made
direct-to-disc. There is still a plan to release all of the Mother's Best
recordings in a comprehensive edition at some point to be determined between
Time-Life and Jett & Keith, but the date has not been fixed. It certainly
will not be in the foreseeable future.
Hope this clarifies things a little.
Colin Escott
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