Hank Williams
Hank Williams "40 Greatest Hits" (Polydor, 1978)
For many, Hank Williams is the ultimate honkytonk hero, and, indeed, you won't find me saying anything bad about anything he ever recorded. Of course, after his untimely death in 1953, old Hank has been a major cash-cow for the assorted record companies that have owned his material, and his catalog has been pretty thoroughly mined, combed over, remixed and repackaged over the years. Not until the very end of the vinyl era, though, was much thought given to releasing his music as he recorded it... Countless "fake" stereo LPs came out on MGM and other labels, with bad vocal overdubs and the like. It wasn't until this double LP collection (now a 2-CD set) came out in 1978 that the general public had a chance to hear Hank at his gloomy, hell-bent, bone-rattling monophonic best. Sure, there are your various fancy Japanese imports or collosal everything-he-ever-done box sets, but this collection really has most everything the average listener could want, including dozens of great hits such as "Hey, Good Lookin'," "Mind Your Own Business", "Why Don't You Love Me?", "Move It On Over" and "You Win Again". It's pretty awesome. Of course, if this isn't enough for you, there's still all that expensive stuff as well... but this should make you plenty happy, in a bummed out kind of way.
Hank Williams "Alone With His Guitar" (Mercury/Universal, 2000)
Keeping in mind what I said above, it's also pretty nice that super-cool discs like this can still pop up and surprise us all. This set of solo acoustic tracks has a lot going for it, not the least of which is that it is all in unadulterated mono and that the song selection tends towards lesser-known material, including Hank covering a lot of stuff written by other folks. These old demos and radio broadcasts give us a nice glimpse of Hank as a working artist, rather than just the country music demigod we all know and love today. Since I personally will never, ever be able to afford the fab rarities box set that this material originally appeared, it sure is nice to hear it on one single, affordable CD. Highly recommended!
Hank Williams "The Ultimate Collection" (Mercury Nashville, 2002)
The 21st Century update of the 40 Greatest Hits collection listed above, this fine 2-CD set has a lot of overlap, but also veers off in new directions, taking advantage of all the Hank Williams rarities that have come out of the vaults in the past couple of decades. This has 42 tracks total, including a bunch of radio performances and demos, as well as a "Luke The Drifter" tune or two. This is a nicely balanced Hank collection, highlighting him in a variety of settings, but also of necessity means that some of the more canonical Williams hits (which are on the earlier best-of) had to be nudged out to make room for the new material. Still, it's Hank. How could you go wrong?? Highly recommended.
Hank Williams "The Complete Hank Williams" (Mercury Nashville, 1998)
Man, I wish I could afford this fabulous 9-CD box set, but since I can't, I'll just have to content myself with steering those of you who have more disposable income into its orbit. Hank Williams was great. There are few artists ever who have matched his intensity or appeal, and even though this is an awful lot of his stuff, it's all really good. Apparently, despite the title, there is a fair amount of material that is omitted from this collection, but still this is an awful lot of good music to find in one place at one time. Doubtless more Hank rarities will continue to pop up from time to time, and somebody will tackle this territory again sometime... but I think it's safe to say that this will be the definitive Hank document for some time to come. Highly recommended! (PS - if you're looking for the material that isn't included in this box set, the most significant omissions are his live performances from the Health and Happiness shows, which have meanwhile been reissued as their own CD.)
Hank Williams "The Health And Happiness Shows" (PolyGram, 1993)
Speaking of which, here's a link to that fab 2-CD set. Sadly, it seems to be out of print, but I trust that someone somewhere in the Universal corporate structure will have the smarts to correct this situation. A great snapshot of Hank Williams at the peak of his powers, playing live on radio shows sponsored by Hadacol, the last of the great patent medicines. Nice, raw performances presented in their full monophonic splendor.
