Need to sample to see if they are the orignal songs .
Joe Sixpack -- Slipcue.com | 09/11/1999
(5 out of 5 stars)
"I was a kid in a tent theatre when these sounds csme out. These are the true sounds of real, I mean real cowboy and country music at its's BEST."
ALL
saraths | AUSTRALIA | 01/07/2002
(5 out of 5 stars)
"I HAVE LISTENED TO EDDY ARNOLD SINCE I WAS 10YRS OLD. I AM 49YRS NOW. HIS SONGS ARE VERY MEANINGFUL, TRUE TO LIFE & VERY TOUCHING TOO. I WISH TO COLLECT ALL OF THEM AGAIN, AS I LOST THEM LONG BEFORE I MIGRATED TO AUSTRALIA..."
Hillbilly heaven...!! Eddy Arnold's early years
Joe Sixpack -- Slipcue.com | ...in Middle America | 03/11/2004
(5 out of 5 stars)
"A stunning 5-CD collection of all of Arnold's earliest material, and one of the Bear Family boxes I've heard that best stands up to intensive and repeated listens. A treasure trove of old-fashioned sentimental county songs, packed with songs about little kids, lost loves, and sweet, saintly mothers, this is without doubt the definitive look at his early career, superseding the more humble (but no less enjoyable) single-disc collections that cover the same era. In the mid 1950s, Arnold, along with singers like Jime Reeves, Ferlin Husky and Marty Robbins, unreservedly adopted the new "Nashville Sound," the country-pop accommodation that Music City saw as its only hope to survive the commercial onslaught of the early rock'n'rollers. In some ways, his switch to a pop vocals wasn't that big a deal: Arnold was always a slow paced, sentimental crooner, by going pop he was just shedding the modest fiddle and pedal steel licks that buoyed his old records, and toning down the twang. He also revisited several of his older hits -- "Anytime," "Bouquet Of Roses," "Cattle Call" -- and gave them a grander-sounding orchestral sweep. It's fun to hear them here in their original stripped-down glory, but sweeter still to hear all the less well-known gems that came out at the same time, in all their unabashed, corny glory. There are also songs that he re-recorded within the space of a couple of years, such as "Little Angel With The Dirty Face" and "This Is The Thanks I Get (For Loving You)," which reveal Arnold already trying out a more robust baritone style, and experimenting with various musical arrangements. His understated delivery and richly sentimental, varied material all make for some mighty fine listening. Trust me: I, too, was leery of investing the big bucks to hear "too much" of such a sappy singer's work, but was VERY pleasantly surprised at how well this collection held up to repeat listens. Nice stuff!"
Mr. Kopeck has a point, but consider this....
randysrodeo.com | Austin, Texas | 02/21/2007
(5 out of 5 stars)
"Be aware that copyrights for sound recordings expire in Europe after 50 years. So, companies like Proper (and ASV, Jasmine, Document, and dozens of others) pay no artist or label royalties. Proper could have quite literally gone out, bought the Bear Family box, reconfigured it, and released it as their own.
That doesn't mean they did, and it doesn't mean their box isn't a labor of love - they seem to really care about the music they release. But, no one's getting paid except Proper - not RCA, not Eddy Arnold, or not (eventually) his estate. FYI."