Reviewed by Dave Brassington

A surprise reissue in Britain for George's 1958 LP of Hank William's songs recorded for ABC Records. As far as I know it was George's first ever LP. A reward for such big selling pop singles as "A Rose And A Baby Ruth" and "Why Don't They Understand. George says he never really wanted to be anything other than a country singer, but at the time he was touring up and down the States with such rock luminaries as Gene Vincent, Eddie Cochran, The Everly Brothers, etc. on one night package shows. The idea was right for George to get back to his country roots by recording an entire album of Hank William's songs, but it doesn't really work out. The main trouble is how Costa's orchestral arrangements make it sound like a pop singer's idea of a country record. George was only 18 at the time and his voice sounds thin, so despite a great bunch of songs including 10 all time Hank William's classics "Cold Cold Heart", "Your Cheatin' Heart", "Wedding Bells" etc, it's not really a good album at all. The odd thing is that the two other tracks are gospel songs "House Of Gold" and "How Can You Refuse Him Now". So obviously George's gospel roots showed through even then. To sum up a collector's item for George IV fans only otherwise there are much better country reissues on this specialist country label.

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