In early 2006, roughly in time for the 40th anniversary of
Merle Haggard's debut album, Capitol Nashville launched an ambitious
Haggard catalog project, reissuing ten albums as a series of five two-fers, each adorned with bonus tracks. All these albums had been reissued before, either stateside by Capitol or Koch or in the U.K. by EMI or BGO, but they've never have been given such an excellent treatment as they are here. The albums are paired together in logical, chronological order, the 24-bit digital remastering gives these recordings the best sound they've ever had, the front cover artwork is reproduced for each album on a two-fer, and the liner notes are candid and detailed. Dedicated
Hag fans certainly have nearly all this material in their collection -- not only have the albums been on CD, but the bonus tracks have by and large appeared on Bear Family's box Untamed Hawk, which chronicled his early work for Capitol, or showed up on Capitol's own box,
Down Every Road -- but they still may be tempted by this series, since these discs not only sound and look terrific, but they're also more listenable than any previous CD incarnation of these classic albums.
And make no mistake, all ten albums featured in Capitol Nashville's first wave of
Haggard reissues in February 2006 are classic albums; some may be a little stronger than others, but there's not a weak one in the bunch, and they all stand as some of the finest music of their time. The fifth two-fer of the initial wave paired
Merle's two 1971 albums,
Hag and
Someday We'll Look Back, two terrific, reflective records. Arriving after the superb
Bob Wills salute
Tribute to the Best Damn Fiddle Player in the World,
Hag was
Haggard's first collection of largely original songs in two years, since 1969's
Portrait. Since that album,
Haggard experienced great success with "Okie from Muskogee," which launched two quick live albums (one bearing the name of the song, the other being The Fightin' Side of Me), plus an instrumental album by
the Strangers, before the labor of love of the
Wills album. Perhaps
Haggard had a great stock of songs saved up during those two years, because
Hag is one of his absolute best albums -- which means a lot, because he recorded no shortage of great records. In contrast to the rowdy live albums and the raucous Western swing that preceded it,
Hag is quite quiet and reflective, sometimes referencing the turmoil within America at the end of the '60s, but more often finding
Haggard turning inward. This album turned out no less than four hits, with three of them addressing larger issues: the revival of
Ernest Tubb's WWII hit "Soldier's Last Letter" is now cast in the shadow of Vietnam,
Haggard's original "Jesus, Take a Hold" ponders the state of the world, while Dave Kirby's "Sidewalks of Chicago" is about homelessness. The other hit was "I Can't Be Myself," a haunting admission that the singer "can't be myself when I'm with you," and it's only one of many great originals on
Hag. The tempo picks up twice, each time at the end of the side, when he kicks out the self-deprecating "I'm a Good Loser" and the nostalgic rave-up "I've Done It All," but the heart of this is in the gentler material, such as the melancholic elegy of "Shelly's Winter Love," the sighing heartbreak ballad "If You've Got Time," and "The Farmer's Daughter," an affecting tale of a father giving away his daughter in marriage. Each is an expertly observed, richly textured gem, and taken together they add up to one of
Haggard's best albums, and one of his most moving.
Someday We'll Look Back follows through on the spirit of
Hag. Like that record, much of
Someday We'll Look Back is devoted to ballads, including both lush, string-laden country-pop crossovers and simple, folky tunes, but there are also hints of twangy Bakersfield honky tonk and blues, as well as Western swing. But what really makes the record so distinctive is the quality of the material.
Haggard's original songs -- including "Someday We'll Look Back," the richly evocative "Tulare Dust," "I'd Rather Be Gone," "One Sweet Hello" -- are uniformly excellent, while he invests considerable emotion into covers of
Tommy Collins' "Carolyn," Dallas Frazier and Elizabeth Montgomery's "California Cottonfields," and
Roger Miller's "Train of Life." The result is one of the finest albums he ever recorded, and when it's paired with
Hag on this two-fer, it makes for absolutely essential listening. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine