beerman_68 | Brush Prarie, Washington | 05/22/2004
(4 out of 5 stars)
"A nice cross selection of Mel's late 50's, early 60's work on the Columbia label. Many of these songs were made popular by Webb Pierce, but Mel's versions are not some lame attempt by the song writer. They are tightly produced, arranged in the style of mainstream country music of the period, and the younger Mel's vocals are outstanding.
The bad news is it is only 10 songs, and under 30mins. If you want to gamble, for twice the money you can get more than twice the songs on his Columbia retrospective CD. I don't own it and can't comment on the extra songs.
A plea to Mr Tillis...someone is going to someday make a lot of money combining your Columbia, Kapp, Mercury, MCA work in a double CD greatest hits collection. Its a crying shame that a great song like 'Wine' is not available on a remastered CD. I hope someone is working to correct this injustice and give your fans what they want! (yes I do own the 3cd hits collection)"
A neat little discovery
Cory L. Schwent | Bloomsdale, MO United States | 05/27/2002
(4 out of 5 stars)
"I was so suprised at what I had found. These are Mel Tillis' early Columbia recordings. 100%, grade A, All-American Honky Tonk!!! You can't go wrong with the music.Now the bad news. Awful packaging, no notes, no informaion about the songs. I had to do outside research to actually find out where these songs came from(the late 1950's). Very short running time, it comes in at 10 songs with a time under 25 minutes."
A great album. Also interesting, as it shows early Tillis.
Jess | 08/30/2000
(5 out of 5 stars)
"An interesting and fun album. It traces the early years of Mel Tillis. I enjoyed it immensely, especially "Walk On Boy", "Tupelo County Jail", and the hysterical "LocoWeed" (I wonder if this song was the inspiration for Steve Martin's comic hit "King Tut". Listen to the inflections of Tillis on the recited verses of "LocoWeed", and then listen to the recited verses of Martin on "King Tut". No, really, I'm not kidding! The similarities are uncanny!) It's an enjoyable album."
Not very impressive
Jess | Coal Country, PA | 04/13/2006
(3 out of 5 stars)
"A fairly short running album that does not do Mel Tillis justice. Mel is one of Country's premiere Songwriters (along with Don Gibson) and one of the few that could sing very well. But this CD, despite it's fair recording and sound, is composed of 10 songs, with about one-half of them being songs you probably never heard before....and truly lacking the signature Mel Tillis sound that he is famous for. If you're a true Mel Tillis fan, you'll more than likely enjoy this one; but the title is misleading when you consider the immense library of material that could've been tapped for this CD compilation. A few bright spots, including an older version of "Sawmill", and the ever-popular "Tupelo County Jail". I give it a grade of C+. And as others have pointed out, the lack of liner notes leaves the listener scratching his head."