Buck Owens – The Many Sides Of Buck Owens
Atomic ACCD 027
Hot Dog – Sweet Thing – Excuse Me – Foolin’ Around – Above And Beyond – Kickin’ Our Hearts Around – Down On The Corner Of Love – Nobody’s Fool But Yours – It Don’t Show On Me – Right After The Dance – Second Fiddle – The House Down The Block – Under The Influence Of Love – You’re For Me – Under Your Spell Again – Save The Last Dance Dance For Me – Mental Cruelty – Loose Talk – Bop – Go Crazy Man – Looking Back To See – Goose Rock – Sad Singin’ And Slow Ridin’ – Whatcha Gonna Do Now – Flash Crash And Thunder – Hey, Miss Fannie – I Gotta Know – Rhythm And Booze – Take Me
As its title indicates, The Many Sides Of Buck Owens covers the whole career of Buck Owens. You’ll find his recording debut for Pep records in 1956, heavily influenced by Hank Williams (but who wasn’t), his first-class 1957 Rockabilly single under the name of Corky Jones, the development of his trademark Bakersfield sound, and some excellent duets with Rose Maddox. There are also plenty of songs with Owens as a session man on guitar, ranging from hillbilly (the Farmer Boys, Jean Shepard), proto Rock’n’roll (Bill Woods) to Rockabilly (Tommy Sands, Wanda Jackson). One could argue that this compilation doesn’t include any song with Gene Vincent (Buck played on Gene Vincent Rocks and the Blue Caps Roll), but frankly, I know you already have this album in your collection. Why complain? A superb compilation from start to finish.
Fred ”Virgil” Turgis