This 36-track double-CD set, running just under an hour and a half, effectively chronicles
Johnny Horton's
Columbia Records
career. The first disc, which is in mono, traces
Horton's
honky-tonk work of 1956-1957, starting with
"Honky Tonk Man."
Though lacking the crossover appeal of his later work at the time, this is the material on which his reputation stands today, with people like
Dwight Yoakam
resurrecting it. The end of the first disc and the beginning of the second (which is in stereo) present the stylistic fishing expedition of
commercially unsuccessful middle period, as be goes looking for a bit. He finds it, of course, with the martial rhythms and historical theme of
"The Battle of New Orleans,"
a chart-topping novelty that leads to a string of similar productions. By the end, in songs like
"The Mansion You Stole,"
Horton
seems headed toward the lush, string-filled Nashville Sound, though he died before it gained dominance. Along the way, all of
Country chart singles and most of his pop chart singles are included, along with two tracks, previously unreleased in the U.S. Of course, the set could have been considerably longer (or, better yet, shaved by a few tracks and fit onto a single disc), but nothing essential is missing. ~ William Ruhlmann