Let me start by saying that I'm a big Willie Nelson fan, and I hate docking this collection a star. It's not because the material on this set isn't first-rate. On the contrary; everything here is classic. Even some of the lesser-known and/or second-tier songs would be career highlights for most artists. But the problem with this set is the same problem suffered by every Willie Nelson compilation released so far: what's missing from it.

There are several good Willie Nelson compilations on the market right now: the classic (and recently remastered) "Greatest Hits (and Some That Will Be)," the boxed set "Revolutions of Time," and two compilations both called "Essential Willie Nelson" (one a single-disc covering his early years and the other a recent double-disc covering his entire career). While all of these collections are great, none is truly comprehensive. I was really hoping that this would finally be the collection that "got it right," but once again, we're given a Willie Nelson compilation that is frustratingly incomplete.

Scanning the titles on this box, I noticed that some of my favorites were missing. So, I went back to the four previously-mentioned collections, all of which I own, and I made a list of the songs that were included on one or more of those collections but are missing here. Some omissions were major, some minor; but it was surprising just how many true classics were M.I.A. Need proof? Take a quick look at the list below, and see how many of your favorite Willie Nelson songs are on it:

Last Thing I Needed First Thing This Morning

All of Me

Blue Skies

Faded Love (w/ Ray Price)

Forgiving You Was Easy

I Never Cared For You

Railroad Lady

Heartaches of a Fool

Look What Thoughts Can Do

Remember Me (When the Candle Lights Are Gleaming)

Midnight Rider

December Day

Healing Hands of Time

Darkness on the Face of the Earth

My Own Peculiar Way

Waltz Across Texas

Some Other World

Phases & Stages (Circles, Cycles and Scenes)

Time of the Preacher

It's Not Supposed to Be That Way

Summertime

Everything Is Beautiful (In It's Own Way)

Take It To the Limit

How Do You Feel About Foolin' Around?

I'm Movin' On

Slow Movin' Outlaw

Are There Any More Real Cowboys?

They All Went to Mexico

Texas On a Saturday Night

Heartland

Nobody Slides, My Friend

Little Old Fashioned Karma

Harbor Lights

Without a Song

Good Time Charlie's Got the Blues

Who'll Buy My Memories?

When I Dream

There Is No Easy Way (But There's a Way)

Ole Buttermilk Sky

A Horse Called Music

Nothing I Can Do About It Now

Is the Better Part Over?

Ain't Necessarily So

Kind of shocking. If you're a Willie Nelson fan, you probably found a good disc's worth of must-have classics, and that's my point. Why didn't they make this set a five-disc box and include all of the classics in his catalog? Then, anyone looking for a primer to Willie's career would have the entire canon available for a single purchase.

Now, don't get me wrong. This is a great collection on its own merits, and it is still probably the best place to start for any newcomer. It's also a good compilation, even if you have all of the previously mentioned sets, because it does a great job of finding classic rarities and lesser-known gems. It also does an excellent job of summing up the later part of Willie's career, which has been, honestly, pretty uneven. But as a complete career overview, it's still disappointing.

If you don't own anything by Willie Nelson, I would advise you to buy this set first, but just realize that there's still a lot of great material out there. In addition to the previous song list, there are several albums that are classics in and of themselves ("Yesterday's Wine," "Shotgun Willie," "Phases & Stages," "Red Headed Stranger," "Stardust," and latter-day cult classic "Spirit" being possibly the most essential ones). Maybe one day somebody will get it right. And who knows? If Willie Nelson has a late-career renaissance like Bob Dylan, maybe by then it will need a sixth disc. For right now, though, this will have to do.

Come on stop nit pickin'. Seems like everyone has his or her favorite song that's not included on this collection. The problem is Willie has been so prolific for the past twenty five years, that it would be impossible to satisfy everyone even if they had made this a five or six disc collection. All I know is this is a great collection and I'm delighted to find one hundred of Willie's greatest songs all in one collection.

With that said I would like to see a few of Willie's great albums like "Angel Eyes", "Without A Song", "Islands In The Sea" and the "Songwriter" soundtrack (with Kris Kristofferson) reissued. Or maybe Atlantic Records would have the good sense to reissue their terrific three disc collection "Classic & Unreleased". Then again I guess that's a bit of nit pickin' on my part.

An incredibly listenable overview of Willies entire catalogue. The rarities and generous song selection make this even more satisfying a listen than the Essential collection from a few years ago.

Willie Nelson's 4-CD Box Set "One Hell of a Ride" is a great compilation of music and the accompanying booklet is well worth the read. The packaging is a problem. The cardboard slipcase and cardboard sleeves for storing the CDs just don't work. Thier non-standard size makes storing this CD collection problematic and I'm not sure the cardboard CD sleeves will stand-up over time. Given the quality of the collection, I question why a standard 4-CD Crystal case was not used. Although the accompanying booklet was a great read, I purchased the collection for the music and would prefer the CDs dictate the packaging, not the accompanying booklet.

I was quite impressed at the beautiful packaging of this set - wonderful photograph of Willie on the cover. It's a wonderful collector's item for diehard Willie fans. I highly recommend it.