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Media Type: CD
Artist: SNOW,HANK
Title: ESSENTIAL
Street Release Date: 04/29/1997
Domestic
Genre: COUNTRY TRADITIONAL

UK two collection from the Canadian-born Country great spanning the years 1961-79. Features 40 bona-fide Hank Snow classics. T-Bird Americana.

16 of the Singing Ranger's biggest hits and oft-covered classics! Includes the smash later borrowed by Ray Charles, I'm Moving On ; his hit made into an even bigger hit by Elvis Presley, (Now and Then, There's) A Fool Such As I; The Golden Rocket; Let Me Go, Lover; I Don't Hurt Anymore; I've Been Everywhere; Hello Love; Miller's Cave , and more!

Nobody does maudlin better than Hank Snow. Here Hank's deeply affecting vibrato graces beautiful tales of torment and woe. In fact, two whole albums of the tragic tales of prisoners, murderers, inebriates, bereaved parents and pet owners. 1958's When Tragedy Struck mined a rich vein in country and folk music traditions, the tragedy song, a weeper delivered with just the right mix of pathos and theatricality. So successful was the LP that in 1964 a sequel followed, Songs Of Tragedy. For the first time both these albums are officially presented on CD, 25 tracks in all including 2 bonus tracks, in glorious remastered sound with exclusive liner notes and rare photos. No story is too macabre, no ending too bleak for the svelte baritone of Hank Snow.

Thanks to his career-making 1950 hits 'I'm Movin' On' and 'The Golden Rocket', the Nova Scotia-born country singer Hank Snow has always been associated with railroads and traveling songs. This collection gathers nearly every track from Snow's two popular RCA Victor albums of train songs: Railroad Man (1963) and Tracks And Trains (1971). Many are beloved railroad evergreens - some dating back to the 1800s, others hailing from country music's golden era. Even Glenn Miller's 'Chattanooga Choo Choo' and Steve Goodman's 'The City Of New Orleans' get the distinctive Snow treatment. The seldom-reissued stereo versions of 'I'm Movin' On' and 'The Golden Rocket' are here, along with rare gems culled from the singer's '60s and '70s LPs.

A wealth of Top 10 hits and classics by Nova Scotia's "Singing Ranger" who became one of America's biggest country stars. The Top 10s: his 1950 smash I'm Moving On plus The Golden Rocket; Bluebird Island; Down the Trail of Achin' Hearts (last two with Anita Carter); The Rhumba Boogie; Music Makin' Mama from Memphis; The Gold Rush Is Over; Lady's Man; I Went to Your Wedding; The Gal Who Invented Kissin'; A Fool Such As I; Spanish Fire Ball; I Don't Hurt Anymore; Let Me Go Lover; Yellow Roses; Would You Mind?; These Hands; Mainliner; Hula Rock; Stolen Moments , and more!

The Singing Ranger's recording career began in '36; so does this perfect 3-CD set of his early cuts and prime '50s hits. His '30s sides Lonesome Blue Yodel and The Hobo's Last Ride join his career-making hits Marriage Vow; I'm Moving On; The Golden Rocket; The Rhumba Boogie; Bluebird Island; The Gold Rush Is Over; Lady's Man; I Don't Hurt Anymore; Let Me Go, Lover!; Spanish Fire Ball; I Went to Your Wedding; Yellow Roses; Would You Mind?; For Now and Always 44 tracks!

Hank Snow isn't generally thought of as a spoken word artist, but the Singing Ranger did dabble in dramatic readings during the course of a recording career that spanned four decades; Snow recorded the album Old Doc Brown and Other Narrations in 1955, and cut his best-known spoken album, Tales of the Yukon, in 1968. Proud Canadian Snow doubtless felt an affinity for the narrative poems of Robert William Service, who earned international fame for his rough-hewn but often sentimental tales of men in the Northern territories, and here Snow recites seven of Service's works (along with "The Face on the Barroom Floor," often attributed to Service but actually penned by Hugh Antoine d'Arcy), accompanied by minimal, unobtrusive musical backings. Snow recites Service's yarns with genuine gusto and shows a real feel for the material; if he's not quite a great actor, he knows the strengths of this material and he has a sense of drama that brings "The Cremation of Sam McGee" and "The Ballad of Hard Luck Henry" to life. And while Snow seems to understand the flashes of humor in these poems, he isn't afraid to serve up their melodramatic side at face value, and the readings are clever, thoughtful, and effective. Tales of the Yukon is an interesting curio for fans of Hank Snow, and folks with a fondness for Robert William Service's stories of rugged lives in Northern Canada should enjoy this immensely. ~ Mark Deming, All Music Guide

4 CD boxed set with an eight page book.