Hank Locklin - 1955 To 1967/Irish Songs, Country Style
Morello MRLL27D
A member of the Grand Ole Opry for 47 years, Hank Locklin helped usher in ‘The Nashville Sound’ that gave country music a lush pop-flavoured feel in the late 1950s. He was one of country music’s major hit-makers of the 1950s and 1960s and was one of the famous four Hank’s alongside Hank Williams, Hank Snow and Hank Thompson. A classic country crooner who sang with a clear, emotionally-on-the-mark voice, he came to international prominence initially with his self-penned Send Me The Pillow You Dream On that crossed over from the country to the pop charts in 1958. Two years later came Please Help Me I’m Falling, that spent 14 weeks at the top of the country music charts in 1960 and was also a UK top ten pop hit. Those pair of hits are included on this double-CD set that features most of Hank’s RCA hits along with his acclaimed 1963 album IRISH SONGS, COUNTRY STYLE.
Hank signed to RCA in 1955 having previously recorded for Four Star Records. His first success for RCA was a cover of George Jones’ Why Baby Why, which despite making the country top ten in 1956, was a poor version in comparison to Jones’ original. Over the next year or so, he released several singles— Good Woman's Love, Seven Or Eleven and Fourteen Karate Gold—which though excellent, all failed to chart. Sadly, they’re not included here, though such hit single B-sides as Love Or Spite, Why Don’t You Haul Off And Love Me and Livin’ Alone are. The latter, a Wayne Walker song, is ruined by the over-the-top pop production which virtually drowns out Hank’s natural yearning vocal that never needed such a heavy-handed musical arrangement. Much better are the sensitive pop-flavoured country arrangements afforded to such hits as It’s A Little More Like Heaven, One Step Ahead Of My Past and From Here To There To You.
One of the greatest tenors in country music, Hank possessed a distinctive nasal voice ideally suited to the lachrymose ballads in which he specialised. He’s heard at his best here on Bill Anderson’s Happy Birthday To Me and the slightly bluesy You’re The Reason. He was also a master of mid-tempo jog-alongs like Lawton Williams’ Blue Grass Skirt, Cindy Walker’s Flyin’ South and the humorous We’re Gonna Go Fishin’, a UK pop hit in 1963. One of the most memorable of his later hits was 1967’s The Country Hall Of Fame, which name-checked many of the past legends of country music.
I know that I’m in the minority, but I’ve never fully-embraced Hank’s IRISH SONGS, COUNTRY STYLE album. It might be because I bought Slim Whitman’s IRISH SONGS a year before Hank’s album was released, and have always preferred it. To my mind, Hank’s versions of I’ll Take You Home Again Kathleen, My Wild Irish Rose and Galway Bay were swamped in heavy string arrangements and heavenly choirs and were not in the ‘country style’ as the title suggests. Despite this highly personal criticism, I fully appreciate that this is a long-overdue compilation of some of Hank Locklin’s best and most successful recordings. His voice is certainly distinctive: a light and sometimes haunting tenor and overall it all makes for a pleasant listening experience.
www.cherryred.co.uk
A member of the Grand Ole Opry for 47 years, Hank Locklin helped usher in ‘The Nashville Sound’ that gave country music a lush pop-flavoured feel in the late 1950s. He was one of country music’s major hit-makers of the 1950s and 1960s and was one of the famous four Hank’s alongside Hank Williams, Hank Snow and Hank Thompson. A classic country crooner who sang with a clear, emotionally-on-the-mark voice, he came to international prominence initially with his self-penned Send Me The Pillow You Dream On that crossed over from the country to the pop charts in 1958. Two years later came Please Help Me I’m Falling, that spent 14 weeks at the top of the country music charts in 1960 and was also a UK top ten pop hit. Those pair of hits are included on this double-CD set that features most of Hank’s RCA hits along with his acclaimed 1963 album IRISH SONGS, COUNTRY STYLE.Hank signed to RCA in 1955 having previously recorded for Four Star Records. His first success for RCA was a cover of George Jones’ Why Baby Why, which despite making the country top ten in 1956, was a poor version in comparison to Jones’ original. Over the next year or so, he released several singles— Good Woman's Love, Seven Or Eleven and Fourteen Karate Gold—which though excellent, all failed to chart. Sadly, they’re not included here, though such hit single B-sides as Love Or Spite, Why Don’t You Haul Off And Love Me and Livin’ Alone are. The latter, a Wayne Walker song, is ruined by the over-the-top pop production which virtually drowns out Hank’s natural yearning vocal that never needed such a heavy-handed musical arrangement. Much better are the sensitive pop-flavoured country arrangements afforded to such hits as It’s A Little More Like Heaven, One Step Ahead Of My Past and From Here To There To You.
One of the greatest tenors in country music, Hank possessed a distinctive nasal voice ideally suited to the lachrymose ballads in which he specialised. He’s heard at his best here on Bill Anderson’s Happy Birthday To Me and the slightly bluesy You’re The Reason. He was also a master of mid-tempo jog-alongs like Lawton Williams’ Blue Grass Skirt, Cindy Walker’s Flyin’ South and the humorous We’re Gonna Go Fishin’, a UK pop hit in 1963. One of the most memorable of his later hits was 1967’s The Country Hall Of Fame, which name-checked many of the past legends of country music.
I know that I’m in the minority, but I’ve never fully-embraced Hank’s IRISH SONGS, COUNTRY STYLE album. It might be because I bought Slim Whitman’s IRISH SONGS a year before Hank’s album was released, and have always preferred it. To my mind, Hank’s versions of I’ll Take You Home Again Kathleen, My Wild Irish Rose and Galway Bay were swamped in heavy string arrangements and heavenly choirs and were not in the ‘country style’ as the title suggests. Despite this highly personal criticism, I fully appreciate that this is a long-overdue compilation of some of Hank Locklin’s best and most successful recordings. His voice is certainly distinctive: a light and sometimes haunting tenor and overall it all makes for a pleasant listening experience.
www.cherryred.co.uk