Few Musicians have helped redefine the image of country musicians from country bumpkins to savvy sonic shape-shifter and entrepreneur than Sherman Texas’ own Alvis Edgar (Buck) Owens Jr. From adapting country’s style to appeal to the growing rock and roll market with his uptempo Bakersfield sound, to his business savvy buying several radio stations in the sixties to increase his take of the pie, to becoming a household name sharing the stage with the great Roy Clark on Hee Haw from the beginning of the series in 1969 until he left the cast in 1986, few artists have had the reach and influence as Buck Owens, his guitarist Don Rich and the rest of Buckaroos.
On May 11 Omnivore records, in conjunction with the Buck Owens Estate, will release a newly remastered ‘Buck Owens and the Buckaroos’ The Complete Capitol Singles: 1967–1970’ CD and Digital format (what? No vinyl?!)
From the presser:
According to Owens: “The reason my Capitol records sounded the way they did — real heavy on the treble — was because I knew most people were going to be listening to ’em on their AM car radios. At the time, nobody else was doing anything like that, but it just seemed like common sense to me. And it was one more reason that you knew it was a Buck Owens record as soon as it came on the radio — because it just didn’t sound like those other records.â€
Annotator Bomar from the liner notes: “The latter part of the 1960s represents Buck Owens’ second act. His recordings from that era are brief snapshots of a man in transition. Buck and his Buckaroos had undeniably found a winning formula, but he was growing concerned that his signature sound was in danger of growing stale and predictable. For the rest of the decade he would boldly venture into new territory that likely stretched the boundaries of what some fans might have expected.â€
Preorder here.
Track Listing:
Disc One
1. Sam’s Place
2. Don’t Ever Tell Me Goodbye
3. Your Tender Loving Care
4. What A Liar I Am
5. It Takes People Like You (To Make People Like Me)
6. You Left Her Lonely Too Long
7. How Long Will My Baby Be Gone
8. Everybody Needs Somebody
9. Sweet Rosie Jones
10. Happy Times Are Here Again
11. Let The World Keep On A Turnin’ – Buck Owens & Buddy Alan
12. I’ll Love You Forever And Ever – Buck Owens & Buddy Alan
13. I’ve Got You On My Mind Again
14. That’s All Right With Me (If It’s All Right With You)
15. Christmas Shopping
16. One Of Everything You Got
17. Things I Saw Happening At The Fountain On The Plaza When I Was Visiting Rome Or Amore
18. Turkish Holiday
Disc Two
1. Who’s Gonna Mow Your Grass
2. There’s Gotta Be Some Changes Made
3. Johnny B. Goode
4. Maybe If I Close My Eyes (It’ll Go Away)
5. Tall Dark Stranger
6. Sing That Kind Of Song
7. Big In Vegas
8. White Satin Bed
9. We’re Gonna Get Together – Buck Owens & Susan Raye
10. Everybody Needs Somebody – Buck Owens & Susan Raye
11. Togetherness – Buck Owens & Susan Raye
12. Fallin’ For You – Buck Owens & Susan Raye
13. The Kansas City Song
14. I’d Love To Be Your Man
15. The Great White Horse – Buck Owens & Susan Raye
16. Your Tender Loving Care – Buck Owens & Susan Raye
17. I Wouldn’t Live In New York City (If They Gave Me The Whole Dang Town)
18. No Milk And Honey In Baltimore
In most cases the versions of Buck’s singles released on 45’s and LP’s were essentially the same other than a mono vs. stereo mix. However there are two exceptions and they are both in this new set and are making their CD debut:
How Long Will My Baby Be Gone – the STEREO LP version overdubbed Buck’s harmony vocal on the title line. A Spanish style acoustic guitar overdub was also added, [first heard at :09] and hand claps were overdubbed “how long will my baby (claps) be gone” & during the brief guitar breaks at the end of the line “how she could turn to another man” [at 1:00 & 1:37] Drums & bass seem a bit more prominent on the stereo mix.
Who’s Gonna Mow Your Grass – released as Buck’s last mono Capitol single in early 1969 it remained a non-LP single until released on The Best Of Buck Owens Vol. 4 LP in late 1971. The mono 45 is dominated by the rhythm track and the harpsichord with Don Rich’s fuzztone guitar further down in the mix. Even during the instrumental break the fuzztone is not exceptionally loud. Judicious mixing of the fuzztone for the single MAY have been done to avoid having the record boycotted by country programmers who were generally adverse to rock sounding guitars in that era. The stereo mix has a very loud and dominant fuzztone that begins on the first note of the intro with less emphasis on the harpsichord. The stereo mix has a very different sound than the mono single hit. When I purchased that LP in 1971 I wondered why that song sounded so different compared to my original 45. To date I’ve never heard an official explanation.
One other note regarding the song Johnny B. Goode. The single version begins with a brief spoken intro by emcee David Allen. Some reissues on Buck Owens hit compilations have deleted that and begin with Buck’s count-off and/or the guitar intro. The 1992 Rhino Buck Owens box set did issue the complete single version with David’s intro.
Wow Ken, you really know your Buck! Stop by anytime.