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Ralph Stanley - The Essential Masters

(Varese Sarabande 302-066-843-2) 2007

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This is a compilation of Ralph's King era material, with four tracks from Brand New Country Songs, four from Over The Sunset Hill and ten from Hills Of Home.

Of course all three albums had previously been reissued in 2003 as part of the 3xCD Poor Rambler set, which also has detailed liner notes by Gary Reid & as a bonus, includes the 1980 material recorded by Ralph and Jimmy Martin for their First Time Together LP.

This compilation seems to have recycled three pictures from the Poor Rambler set, showing Ralph with his Style-5 on the front cover and what looks to be a Bacon & Day Ne Plus Ultra (or Silver Bell) banjo on the CD tray artwork. As with the Poor Rambler, this picture has been flipped Left-Right so Ralph appears to be holding a Left-handed instrument! The picture of Ralph and Jimmy Martin dates from I guess 1980 (or later) so isn't particularly relevant to this compilation, although Jimmy did play rhythm guitar and mandolin on the Hills Of Home LP.

The CD also credits Darling Brown Eyes and I Only Exist as being performed by Ralph and Jimmy Martin, which is kind of erroneous. Both are from the 1969 Hills Of Home sessions, with that take of Darling Brown Eyes also cropping up on First Time Together, whilst I Only Exist was re-recorded for that joint album.

Another slight nit-pick is that three of the tracks are listed as being taken from the King Singles (King 6113), (King 6139) and (King 6179), but these single versions are exactly the same take/mix as the LP versions...

Soundwise the quality is ok, although the levels jump rather significantly at times (e.g. between the first couple of tracks). Of course, all the early King material is top drawer stuff, and with 18 tracks and a playing time of over 42 mins, the CD is fairly good value.