Merle Haggard Here I Am Again

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Merle Haggard

• The Best of the Best of Merle Haggard [Capitol, 1972] B+
• Presents His 30th Album [Capitol, 1974] B+
• Serving 190 Proof [MCA, 1979] B+
• The Way I Am [MCA, 1980] B+
• Large Urban center [Ballsy, 1981] B
• Going Where the Alone Get [Epic, 1982] C+
• His Epic Hits--The First Xi--To Be Continued . . . [Epic, 1984] B-
• His Best [MCA, 1985] B+
• Songwriter [MCA, 1985] B
• A Friend in California [Epic, 1985] B+
• Chill Gene [Epic, 1987] B-
• 5:01 Blues [Epic, 1989] C+
• Capitol Collectors' Serial [Capitol, 1990] A-
• More of the Best [Rhino, 1990] A-
• If I Could Only Fly [Epitaph, 2000] A-
• Roots Volume 1 [Anti-, 2001] **
• Like Never Earlier [Hag, 2003] **
• Unforgettable [Capitol, 2004]
• The Essential Merle Haggard: The Epic Years [Epic/Legacy, 2004]
• Chicago Wind [Capitol, 2005] ***
• I Am What I Am [Vanguard, 2010] B+
• Working in Tennessee [Vanguard, 2011] A-

See As well:

• Merle Haggard and the Strangers
• Merle Haggard and George Jones
• Merle Haggard/Willie Nelson
• George Jones and Merle Haggard
• Willie Nelson and Merle Haggard
• Willie Nelson/Merle Haggard/Ray Price
• merge all

Consumer Guide Reviews:

The All-time of the Best of Merle Haggard [Capitol, 1972]
A misnomer--they mean The Safest of the Best, or Something for Everybody. No "Lonesome Fugitive" or "Sing Me Dorsum Home" or "Branded Man," but both of his patriotic chores, "The Fightin' Side of Me" studio and "Okie From Muskogee" live (for the third time out of iii on LP). Also: "Every Fool Has a Cord Department," I mean "Rainbow," and "No Reason to Quit," where his timbre, which has been softening perceptibly over the years, breaks definitively into cocky-compassion. Plus lots of good stuff, of course, but still . . . B+

Presents His 30th Album [Capitol, 1974]
The man has been making them for less than a decade, and thirty is likewise damn many. Merely this is clearly where Haggard wants to show off his range, and the display, featuring more original songs than he's put in one place for a long time, is pretty impressive. There's a rip-roaring infidelity lyric that's definitely one of his genius pieces--"Quondam Man From the Mount," information technology'south called, complete with bluegrass shading. And though afterward that merely "Honky Tonk Nighttime Man" and the Bob Wills/Lefty Frizzell comprehend are liable to be remembered, just well-nigh everything else is liable to exist enjoyed. B+

Serving 190 Proof [MCA, 1979]
Its impeccable simplicity and sensitivity gives Haggard's fourth and best anthology for MCA an autumnal feel reminiscent of recent comebacks by Chuck Drupe and Jerry Lee Lewis. Granted, autumnal country music is easier to come by than autumnal rock and roll. Merely for Haggard, a mere forty-i merely feeling information technology, the effect has thematic repercussions--and he's written a batch of wise songs to mankind information technology out. B+

The Way I Am [MCA, 1980]
"Wake Upwardly," a devastating final-nighttime plea that's ane of Haggard's few great love songs, is the only original that transcends his usual poses, with "Heaven-Bo"--"That's a new kind of hobo for planes"--the most cloying offender. Only Haggard's chief value has been vocal e'er since "Okie From Muskogee" saddled him with an image, and here his resonant, cogitating baritone transforms 3 Ernest Tubb tunes from standards into timeless pieces of Americana. If Willie Nelson is Bing Crosby, Haggard'due south Sinatra. B+

Big City [Ballsy, 1981]
Having charged CBS considerable to slide into that notch on Baton Sherrill'south gun, Merle signifies his seriousness by saving the flaky stuff for next year and clearing his throat before he sings. This isn't just for his cult--it'southward for the whole damn country audience. "My Favorite Memory" and "I E'er Go Lucky With Yous" are honey songs that may cloy eventually but at least stick for now. "Big City" and "Are the Good Times Really Over" are by the Merle who wrote that vocal about hippies. And only similar on a existent Nashville anthology, you tin but tell how much filler there is by listening till you're sick of it. B

Going Where the Lonely Go [Epic, 1982]
Country legend or no, Haggard has no more business concern doing an anthology well-nigh broken relationships than Public Image Ltd. As a result, material that might be touching from a more austere vocalizer is barely credible, and the three songs that open side 2--one by Merle and Jimmy Dickens, 1 by Merle's off-and-on wife Leona Williams, and one by the austere Willie Nelson--ooze with the kind of moist self-pity ordinarily encountered but in leaders of the men's liberation movement. C+

His Epic Hits--The Start Xi--To Exist Continued . . . [Epic, 1984]
Though at get-go this just seems deplorable, an objective person will admit that actually the songs are kind of memorable--in other words, not filler. He wrote nearly of them himself, too. Only an objective person volition also note that the ii side-openers (and the two best tracks by a mile) both feature Willie Nelson. And wish he hadn't ruined a great stanza in "My Favorite Retentivity" with that stupid line about how she made their vacation a ball. And become kind of sick at the reactionary nostalgia of "Are the Good Times Actually Over." And wonder whether Mrs. Hag really concluded upwards in George Jones'due south bed like he claims in "C.C. Waterback," and whether Hag minded, and if not why not. And get deplorable all over again. B-

His Best [MCA, 1985]
Though occasional jingoisms like final yr's Amber Waves of Grain encourage citified ignoramuses to believe he can't see beyond Muskogee, over the years his musical sophistication has surpassed even Willie Nelson'southward. His Strangers are a stripped-down version of Bob Wills'due south Playboys, his soft timbre and lazy swing marks of a vocaliser who'll never become old, and dissimilar Nelson he keeps writing. This compilation is overdue--he deserted the label in '81--and not all it should be. Information technology draws besides heavily on the all too conceptual 1980 Back to the Barrooms. Its ii best songs may steer you lot abroad from the modest pleasures of the all-encompassingly unconceptual The Way I Am. And it's recommended to ignoramuses nevertheless. B+

Songwriter [MCA, 1985]
The best cuts here would make His All-time better. Just the real reason Haggard has never chalked upward the great compilations a cracking country artist has in him is the reason MCA is perfectly justified in repackaging duff stuff like "Red Bandana" and "From Graceland to the Promised Land." On the land charts, those were hits--that'south the mode the land audition tin can be with neat country artists. Best cutting: the dangerously self-referential "Footlights," which was never released every bit a single. B

A Friend in California [Ballsy, 1985]
Just when I decide he's gonna lay back forever he ambles into this. No Nippophobia, minimal dearest pap, a impact of United mexican states, and lots of swing--except for i Freddy Powers pledge it keeps going till the obligatory sentimentality of the last ii cuts. But though Merle'southward writing is rolling the prize is Floyd Tillman's "This Common cold State of war With You." I vote for a tribute follow-upwardly. B+

Arctic Factor [Ballsy, 1987]
Supposedly a good one, and since it features an illustrated inner sleeve and six songs on one side that must be the intent. Just by peaking with "Xxx Once more," all it proves is that his great theme is age rather than love, which of grade dominates. Further proof includes the overtaxed title metaphor and a Hank Cochran copyright so bitter and direct it makes you think his women get sick of him for the uncomplicated reason that's he full of shit. B-

5:01 Dejection [Epic, 1989]
Information technology wouldn't exist strictly accurate to merits Haggard has pissed his talent away, but the temptation to say and then anyhow beckons. His laid-back vocal signature is the lazy man'southward friend. His originals suggest that he has no reject pile--but entunes any old slice of verse for the annual session. And again and once more his famous ecumenicism camouflages lame genre excursions--on this album, the Bellamy-reggae "Sea of Heartbreak." A slight improvement over 1988'due south feckless Out Among the Stars, due generally to a formulaic title tune Hag didn't write. Merely if he thinks he isn't getting away with shit, he needs a shrink. C+

Capitol Collectors' Series [Capitol, 1990]
"His Capitol years resulted in 38 Summit Ten smashes, many more than than can be fairly covered in just this ane book of his hits." But at least this one includes the studio version of "Okie from Muskogee," its kickoff appearance on whatsoever Hag album. Although newcomers should note that the homo doesn't understand land's essential theme, monogamy, he does know piece of work, prison house, family, hard times, my country right or center--which doesn't stop him from getting mawkish nigh them. And gutless he's not. Half-dozen of the seven '74-'76 selections went number one land, while the other barely creased the aforementioned elevation 10--the ane that speaks kindly of Dr. King. A-

More of the Best [Rhino, 1990]
The remaining xviii hits, I presume, including the definitive sinner's lament "Mama Tried." Capitol has dibs on the classics, including flag-wavers rock and rollers remember they tin can live without, and so Rhino's is short on working-man songs. But it also avoids unnecessarily educational jingoist jingles. Instead nosotros get an asshole'due south view of marriage, as instructive as it is irritating. He screws in the afternoon, he takes his wife to Florida for a weekend of woo he's sure will patch things up, he settles for a substitute: "I don't have to wonder who she's had/No, it'due south non honey, but it's non bad." You wonder exactly which working men these songs are for--makes you realize how many high-rolling automobile dealers he plays to. But cocky-compassion has rarely possessed a more observant spokesperson. And "Rainbow Stew" says adieu with an antiutopian whimsy lefties tin chronicle to. A-

If I Could Simply Fly [Epitaph, 2000]
For decades aesthetes take crowed about the hard-traveling Haggard's all-American musicality without mentioning that he's a cranky bounder who never decides till the moment at manus whether this gig or session is worthy of his high standards. Afterward a long, dispiriting string of releases that gradually devolved from striking-or-miss to contemptuous, he comes out of nowhere on a punk characterization to cut one of the very best albums of his very uneven recording career. Although I doubt there'south a "Mama Tried" or "Today I Started Loving You Once more" here, I'yard positive at that place's no "Valentine" or "Kids Get Lonesome Too," both of which turned my stomach at a 1996 show, and I like or love most of the new songs-including the metanostalgic "Wishing All These Sometime Things Were New," the Western swing safety commercial "Bareback," and several about how much he loves his fifth wife. Plus sui generis singing that pauses for consecutive Bing Crosby and Johnny Cash tributes, and the sense of time that permeates his every bit sui generis Bakersfield swing. What is his deepest belief? That fourth dimension is to be savored, not possessed. A-

Roots Volume 1 [Anti-, 2001]
who wrote his country soul was Lefty, not Hank--equally if we didn't know ("E'er Belatedly [With Your Kisses]," "If Y'all've Got the Money [I've Got the Fourth dimension]") **

Like Never Before [Hag, 2003]
Rebel, patriot, musician, fable, populist, sentimentalist, small businessman ("That'southward the News," "Lonesome 24-hour interval"). **

Unforgettable [Capitol, 2004]
"Goin' Away Political party"

The Essential Merle Haggard: The Ballsy Years [Epic/Legacy, 2004]
In which hackdom ages like a fine muscatel. Back when Hag was nevertheless flexing his muscles commercially and culturally, the sentimentality of his Billy Sherrill menstruation was rank. Now information technology'due south but gorgeously phrased. Sit back and enjoy information technology. No impairment done. [Recyclables]

Chicago Current of air [Capitol, 2005]
Leave Iraq and stay with your dearest ("Where'south All the Freedom," "It Always Will Be"). ***

I Am What I Am [Vanguard, 2010]
Although Haggard recorded many more than practiced albums in the '00s than in the '90s, his songwriting hasn't been this sharp since 2000's If I Could Merely Fly. Not that every vocal flies, and not that he creaks so noticeably on the Dec-December "We're Falling in Dear Again" just to brand sure he conveys how "making love 'neath the stars" actually feels at 73. But his good-old-days laments taste sweet where once they curdled. You'd nigh think he's grateful to exist alive, which may simply be why Johnny Cash'due south ghost gets to croak "I watched information technology all completely fall apart" on the lead rails. B+

Working in Tennessee [Vanguard, 2011]
Now 74 and short half a lung, he'south not making the all-time music of his life, just the all-time albums. The playing keeps getting savvier, he hasn't lost as much voice as God intended, his homegrown riot is feistier than ever, and with help from his fifth wife he's notwithstanding writing keepers. Not fifty-fifty the anti-Nashville "Too Much Boogie Woogie" feels similar filler. Effort a title track that crests with "Well the water came in, the water went out/Saw the Hall of Fame floatin' near," or the equally insouciant "Express joy It Off," or the honey songs for seniors "Downwardly on the Houseboat" (they've got money) and "Under the Bridge" (they don't), or a "What I Hate" where he blames the resurgent Civil War on the Rebels. Or if all that sounds too darn mod, start with the three oldies: "Cocaine Blues" on his lonesome, "Jackson" with his 5th wife, and "Working Man Blues" with Shotgun Willie and his own 17-year-old son. Man's learned how to live, and he has no intention of stopping. A-

Run across Too

• Recyclables: Alan Jackson, George Strait, Merle Haggard [2005-08-09]

Merle Haggard Here I Am Again

Source: https://www.robertchristgau.com/get_artist.php?name=Merle+Haggard

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