1 CENT CD: Gene Autry 'The Essential (1933-1946)'

Condition of CD: MINT CONDITION!

One review reads: ' You will forgive me if I don't wax as enthusiastic as some of the other reviewers when it comes to this particular release for the original King of the Cowboys [he held that title way before Roy Rogers]. But it seems to me that when releasing a compilation under the title "The Essential Gene Autry 1933-1946", the majority of the contents should be reflective of his hit records.

It does include his first hit ever, The Last Round-Up, which reached # 12 in late 1933 on the Melotone label and was featured in The Ziegfield Follies Of 1934. So, too, is is third hit, Tumbling Tumbleweeds, a # 10 in February 1935, also on Melotone (his second hit, Ole Faithful, is at track 17, but that's a later re-recording). All of these preceded the advent of the Billboard Pop charts in 1940 and what then passed for the Country charts, which didn't get under way until 1944.

In the remaining 15 tracks, however, they give us exactly two of the 13 other Pop and 22 Country hits he registered from 1935 to 1952, those being I'm Thinking Tonight Of My Blue Eyes which, recorded in 1942, made it to # 3 Country in early 1944 for Columbia's Okeh subsidiary, and Jingle, Jangle, Jingle, which reached # 17 Pop in August 1942.

Should not an "essential" compilation include the likes of at least some of the following? the Vocalion releases That Silver-Haired Daddy Of Mine (# 7 Pop in 1935 with Jimmy Long), South Of The Border [Down Mexico Way] (# 12 Pop in late 1939; and Goodbye Little Darlin' Goodbye (# 20 Pop in July 1940); the Okeh issues Be Honest With Me (# 23 in May 1941) and You Are My Sunshine (# 23 Pop in September 1941); and these Columbia releases - Tweedle-O-Twill (# 16 Pop in January 1944); I Hang My Head And Cry (# 4 Country in April 1944); Gonna Build A Big Fence Around Texas (# 2 Country ) and its flipside Don't Fence Me In (# 4 Country - both in February 1945); At Mail Call Today (# 1 Country for EIGHT weeks) and its flipside I'll Be Back (# 7 Country) - both in May 1945; Don't Hang Around Me Anymore (# 4 Country in November 1945); Don't Live A Lie (# 4 Country) and its B-side I Want To Be Sure (also # 4) - both in January 1946; Silver Spurs (On The Golden Stairs) (# 4 Country in March 1946); I Wish I Had Never Met Sunshine (# 3 Country) and its B-side You Only Want Me When You're Lonely (# 7 Country) - both June 1946; Wave To Me, My Lady (# 4 Country in July 1946); Have I Told You Lately That I Love You? (# 3 Country) and its flipside Someday You'll Want Me To Want You (# 4 Country) - both November 1946. Then, of course, there's You're Not My Darlin' Anymore (# 3 Country in March 1947) and Buttons And Bows from the film Paleface, which reached # 6 Country and # 17 Pop in late 1948.

Their omission immediately begs the question: who decides what is essential, the fans who bought or demanded to hear those records either on radio or in juke boxes at a rate that put them onto the charts, or some suit at Columbia who was likely just a gleam in his father's eye when Gene was recording them?

The five pages of liner notes written in 1992 by Country music historian Charles Wolfe, while interesting, do not explain how the process of selection was carried out (unlike, say, their Essential Carl Smith or Ray Price releases which DO contain mostly hits).

There are a few nice photos of Gene inside as well as vintage advertisements for a Gene Autry guitar and one of his song books. The sound quality is also excellent, but these assets do not overcome the fact that the songs selected - overall - leave a lot to be desired. Like the box-set for Bill Monroe, not one of their best efforts in their Essential series.

Incidentally, Blueberry Hill was also recorded in 1940 - the same year as Gene's version - by Glenn Miller (Ray Eberle vocal); Kay Kyser (Harry Babbitt vocal); and Russ Morgan (Carol Kay vocal). Louis Armstrong also recorded it in 1949, and his version became a hit in 1956 a couple of months after the Fats Domino version.   '