The Essential Marty Robbins 1951-1982: Columbia Country Classics
The Essential Marty Robbins 1951-1982: Columbia Country Classics
Country’s jack-of-all-trades, Marty Robbins handled so many musical styles so well. The common threads were his shivering, fragile tenor; an ability to tastefully emote; and of course, an uncanny knack for appealing to popular tastes. From his earliest heart-rending ballads to his Western sagas, rockabilly romps, country-politan crooning, standards, and even his kitschy pop, Robbins lent them all a grace and civility that was simply hard to resist because he never (well, rarely) confused accessibility with shallowness. Though best known for bringing the cowboy uptown, Robbins helped expand the parameters of what a “country” artist could do, his choices defined by quality of material and performance, not genre. –Marc Greilsamer
Customer Review: An extremely versatile performer
Marty Robbins was a major country singer over three decades, beginning his recording career and establishing himself quickly. He maintained a high level of consistent success throughout the fifties and sixties and also had some notable successes in the seventies. This set covers his entire recording career. Originally released in America in a long box format with two separate CD jewel boxes and a large booklet inside, it was released in Europe in a two-door jewel case and later in a slimline double-CD case. I imported the original boxed set many years ago. I don’t know which packaging is current in America, but the music remains the same.
Marty’s early recordings often became successful in both the country and pop charts in America. He only had limited success in the UK pop charts but he was the first to record Singing the blues, Knee deep in the blues and Story of my life, all of which became massive UK hits for other singers. On this set, you can hear further evidence of his ability to rock’n'roll via That’s all right, Maybelline and A white sport coat and a pink carnation.
I love Marty’s rock’n'roll music but he was even better singing western songs. His biggest success came with El Paso, one of the best western songs ever recorded. This collection also features a couple of sequels - Feleena from El Paso and El Paso city. Plenty of other examples of Marty’s western songs are included here, though if you are really keen there are plenty of compilations devoted exclusively to Marty’s western music including a Bear family boxed set including all of them.
Marty was also capable of doing excellent versions of pop standards, as shown here by his versions of September in the rain, All the way and Unchained melody. He also recorded Hawaiian music and that is also represented here. Listen to his interpretations of Beyond the reef and Hawaiian wedding song. Marty also did his share of conventional country songs, including Devil woman, Ruby Ann, Tonight Carmen, You gave me a mountain and My woman my woman my wife.
This set (in whatever packaging) shows that Marty was a man of many talents, able to sing any type of song. If you only want one Marty Robbins collection, this is the one to go far, but be warned - you may end up buying more of his music to explore some aspects of his career in greater depth.
Customer Review: It`s outstanding,essential says it all.
This set has Marty`s big hits and also has some I had not heard before.Whether, you like Marty Robbins,or you like country, you can`t go wrong.
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