With a title like 40 #1 Hits, it's easy to assume that the collection will contain nothing but number one hits, whether it's from the Billboard charts or Cash Box, and it's also easy to assume that it would contain all of an artist's number one hits. In the case of Merle Haggard's double-disc 2004 collection, neither is true. Using just the Billboard charts as a guide -- which is an assumption, since the liner notes do not specify which charts are used, but Billboard is the standard   [ read more ]

CD $23.73

VINYL FORMAT. On 180 gram vinyl! "Mama Tried is a typically fine late-'60s LP from Merle Haggard, comprised of a number of strong originals and several excellent covers. While "Mama Tried" stands out among Haggard's original material, "I'll Always Know" and "You'll Never Love Me Now" are both solid songs. Still, those two tracks pale next to the best covers on the record. Merle delivers "Little Ole Wine Drinker Me," "In the Good Old Days (When Times Were Bad)," "Teach Me to Forget," "Run 'Em Off" and   [ read more ]

LP $20.98

Other people also bought:

Kurt Vile  Constant Hitmaker, Bikini Kill  Bikini Kill, Interpol  Turn on the Bright Lights

For all the '90s, Merle Haggard was stuck in a kind of exile, recording albums that were strangely perched between familiar Haggard material and futile compromises to a modern country radio that would never play material from veterans. Hag knew that he hadn't lost it, so when he finally ran ou   [ read more ]

MP3 $10.49

Other people also bought:

Fly Seville  Carousel, Dan Melchior's Broke Revue  This Is Not the Medway Sound, The Magic Numbers  The Magic Numbers

If I Could Only Fly, Merle Haggard's first album for the indie label Anti, was deservedly hailed as his finest record in decades, as audiences and critics recognized a revitalized [ read more ]

MP3 $10.49

Other people also bought:

Fly Seville  Carousel, Dan Melchior's Broke Revue  This Is Not the Medway Sound, The Magic Numbers  The Magic Numbers

Merle Haggard is a rarity: a complex artist whose rich scope can accurately be summarized through singles, but who has far more great material than can be fit on one or two discs. Which, of course, makes him the perfect candidate for a box set, and Capitol released the first comprehensive Hag retrospective in 1996 with the four-disc set Down Every Road. Since Haggard has such a rich, consistent body of his work -- the best of his MCA and Epic periods, two eras that are covered here, hol   [ read more ]

CD $50.33

CD $11.38

CD $10.43

CD $16.13

In 2002, BGO released Merle Haggard's 1971 album Hag and 1972 effort Let Me Tell You About a Song on a single CD. These two albums were separated by two other records: Land of Many Churches and Someday We'll Look Back, both from 1971. If Someday We'll Look Back would have fit better with Hag on a two-fer since it shares a similar sound and sentiment, it's still hard to complain about this disc, since neither album has been released on CD before and they're both among Haggard's bes   [ read more ]

CD $20.88

CD $20.88

I'm A Lonesome Fugitive and Mama Tried, two of Merle Haggard's classic late '60s albums for Capitol Records, are included on this single disc. Though there is a handful of filler on each of the albums, the overall quality of the music on both records is very high -- not only are classic singles like "Mama Tried," "I'm A Lonesome Fugitive," and "Someone Told My Story" present, but so are excellent album tracks like "Little Ole Wine Drinker Me," "In the Good Old Days (When Times Were Bad)," "Run '   [ read more ]

CD $19.93

This import BGO two-fer combines Merle Haggard's last two records for Capitol, both of them from 1976. My Love Affair With Trains harkens back to Haggard's tribute album to Jimmie Rodgers in spirit. It is narrated between cuts, offering different facts, from the history of the railroads to Haggard's personal observations. While he only contributes one original to the set ("No More Trains to Ride"), it nonetheless bears a deeply personal and heartfelt stamp with cuts by {$Mark Year   [ read more ]

CD $20.88