Search - John Hartford :: Rca Country Legends

About time this stuff saw the light of day!

weav@sigma.net | Palo Alto, CA United States | 10/21/2001

(5 out of 5 stars)

"John Hartford's RCA albums were pulled from the catalogue when he jumped to Warner in 1971. This Buddha compilation includes selections from the first four releases, plus the two new tracks on the best-of album "Gentle On My Mind", all recorded and produced in Nashville by Felton Jarvis.John's early songs were what he called "Word Movies" (a concept not all that distant from Ken Nordine's "Word Jazz") and these songs clearly show why. For those who only know John from his one-man show days, or from Aereo Plain (incl. "Boogie"), this is a real treasure. You can hear why Chuck Glaser hired the youngish John Harford (without the "t") to write for the family studio, and why they marched him up to Chet Atkins at RCA, and why Chet signed him (it was he who added the "t" to John's name).
Just hearing the original Gentle On My Mind is worth the price of this.These tracks were remastered from the original mix tapes and sound beautiful. Dave Samuelson and Rich Kienzle did a wonderful job compiling session and track info from the ledger sheets - Jerry Reed playing guitar?! - and their liner notes drawn from conversations with John and interviews from magazines.If you've ever liked John Hartford's material, I say you owe it to yourself to hear his early works. Enjoy. ..."

Excellent (But Brief) Intro to Hartford's Formative Years

Steve Vrana | Aurora, NE | 04/20/2002

(4 out of 5 stars)

"John Hartford recorded five albums for RCA from 1967 through 1970 prior to 1971's classic "Aereo-Plain." This "Country Legends" release samples these long out-of-print albums (although nothing is included from 1970's "Iron Mountain Depot"). However, if you're unfamiliar with Hartford's pre-"Aereo-Plain" material, this material may come as something of a surprise.As Hartford explains in the liner notes, while RCA saw him as their version of Bob Dylan, RCA's Nashville operations vice president Chet Atkins saw him as their Roger Miller. Hartford also expressed some concern about his difficulty in convincing RCA to allow him to hire bluegrass musicians for sessions. Fortunately, most of the songs selected for this release are those where Hartford is backed by a limited number of musicians--although the trumpet flourishes on "I'm Still Here" are distracting. Highlights include his original version of "Gentle on My Mind" (which stalled at No. 60 on the country charts), "California Earthquake," "(Good Old Electric) Washing Machine (Circa 1943)" and "Mouth to Mouth Resuscitation"--the latter two showing the kind of quirky humor that would be one of Hartford's trademarks throughout his career. My only complain is that with a running time of 40:15, Buddha could have tacked on another dozen songs. At any rate, at present, this is the only opportunity listeners have to hear any of Hartford's music from his formative years. RECOMMENDED"

Just What I Wanted!

Jack Ginnever | St. Louis, MO USA | 10/20/2001

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I've been trying to get some of John Hartford's early works for quite some time. The problem is that there are a bunch of albums that you just can't get because they've never been released on CD and you can't get the albums. I even went to the extent of searching through the album racks at antique stores.Well this was what I was looking for (but sure could use MORE). It's a collection of John's early works from the mid to late sixties. And after my second listen I have to say that I know it will be one of my favorites. Some of the songs should be familiar. "Gentle on My Mind" has been recorded on several of his albums, and "Washing Machine", "I'm Still Here" and "I Would Not Be Here" are also on other CDs. But the rest are ones that I've never heard before and they are classic John Hartford with his unique style and his never-ending experimental spirit.A lot of these songs have sounds that are dated but that doesn't mean that it's bad. I get a genuine feel for the times when John Hartford was part of the Glenn Campbell Good Time Hour (hey, that's another good idea - how about some of that stuff?) when I listen to these songs. And if you listen close you can hear the beginnings of John's style that peaks in his great release of Aereo-Plain that was first released in 1971."