original versions of Haggard's late 70s MCA hits

Merle Haggard. He is a country legend, and almost every song that he produced is essential. His voice is unique, and he makes every song he sings his own. And, in 2000, he was given a collection in UMG's '20th Century Masters' series.

This set covers, in my opinion, his best years: the MCA years from 1975-1981. Sure, I love his EMI sides as well, but I am partial to MCA Merle.

So how does this set measure up?

Positives

-Every major song from the period is here. 'I Think I'll Just Stay Here And Drink,' 'Leonard,' and 'Rainbow Stew' all make appearances on this set.

-The sound quality is excellent!

Negatives

-I wouldn't mind seeing one of his Capitol sides like 'Always Wanting You' on here.

Overall, you can't wrong with Merle Haggard. This is highly recommended for any Merle Haggard fan. ENJOY!!!

this is some of merle haggard'sgreatest hits from his mca [bronco billy days.misery and gin and rainbow stew are my favorites

I bought this CD primarily for "If We're Not Back In Love By Monday" but found the other songs on it satisfactory. With the exception of "Rainbow Stew" the others are from from equaling the Hag's greatest hits like "Okie from Muskogee", "Daddy Frank" and "Mama Tried". They are enjoyable enough though. Most of them I had never heard before purchasing this CD, but to be fair, were released before my time. They might have been hits for their day that were just overshadowed by Merle Haggard's super hits that defined his career.

This 2000 entry in the massive 20th Century Masters The Millenium Collection series and the 1992 release Merle Haggard's Greatest Hits both come from MCA/Universal and somehow, over the years, I acquired both. And, as I said in my review of the latter, between the two I'd recommend this volume as it not only contains the 10 tracks presented in that release, but two additional cuts, not to mention a partial discography of the contents (no chart information), and 3 pages of liner notes written in September 1999 by Todd Everett. In addition, the sound is marginally better.

As with that other volume, I again think this could have been better titled along the lines of "The Best Of Merle Haggard On MCA" since, contrary to another reviewer who regards those years as his best, the fact remains his first 44 hits came while at Capitol, including 24 # 1's, most billed as Merle Haggard & The Strangers. Only one of his 20 hits at MCA made it to # 1 (track 2).

His initial hit at MCA, where he was billed as simply Merle Haggard, was If We're Not Back In Love By Monday, which came close to # 1, finishing up at # 2 in May/June 1977, and he repeated that in the summer with Ramblin' Fever. Later that fall his tribute to Elvis Presley (who had died on August 16), From Graceland To The Promised Land, peaked at # 4 Country and # 58 Billboard Pop Hot 100, his only Pop cross-over while at MCA (he had 11 while at Capitol). In the spring and summer of 1978, he nudged the # 1 position two more times with I'm Always On A Mountain When I Fall and It's Been A Great Afternoon, and in the fall had another # 4 with The Bull And The Beaver in a duet with Leona Williams.

Spring and late summer 1979 saw two more # 4 hits in Red Bandana and My Own Kind Of Hat, and in the spring of 1980 he again came close to a # 1 when The Way I Am peaked at # 2. Ironically, he then had a # 1 in a duet with Clint Eastwood on Bar Room Buddies from the film Bronco Billy in the early summer of 1980, but that was released on the Elektra label. Misery And Gin, also from that film, was released on MCA in mid-simmer, and it finished at # 3. He then closed out the year with his only MCA # 1 in I Think I'll Just Stay Here And Drink.

In March 1981, his tribute to Tommy Collins titled Leonard (Leonard Sipes was Tommy's real name) made it to # 9, and early that summer Rainbow Stew got up to # 4. In another ironic twist, his next two hits were both # 1 - My Favorite Memory and Big City (with Leona Williams) - but these came out on the Epic label. While he was at Epic (where he would chalk up 10 more # 1 hits) MCA would sporadically release cuts done there, but these were all relatively minor hits (Dealing With The Devil - # 49 in May 1982; his cover of the Tommy Edwards hit It's All In The Game - # 54 in November 1983; and Make-Up And Faded Blue Jeans - # 55 in summer 1985). None are included here.

As indicated in the liner notes, Merle wrote (or co-wrote) eight of the songs presented here. One of the better entries in the 20th Century series, but I would still recommend looking around for compilations with 20 or more tracks, especially if you can find one from a British distributor or, perhaps, Bear Family of Germany, who seem to to know how to put out proper "best of" volumes.