Greatest Hits Volume 2 by Hank Williams Jr. (Vinyl record album review)

Record basics

• Album name: Greatest Hits Volume 2
• Artist name: Hank Williams Jr.
• Year: 1985
• Number of discs: one
• Label: Curb Records
• Collection: Essex
• Distinguishing characteristics: price sticker on top right (Our Price: $2.99)
• Buy it on Amazon: $44.99

My review

Level of familiarity before listening

I have probably heard many Hank Williams Jr. songs, and expect to know at least a few on this record, but I don’t recognize any by name.

Also, last May I reviewed Roy Acuff Sings Hank Williams (For The First Time).

What I expected

Country and rock.

What it was actually like

I did not, in fact, recognize any of these songs, but I did like several of them.

All My Rowdy Friends Are Coming Over Tonight was much more electric than I expected, but still very country rock, and also very honky tonk with a prominent piano. I could have done without the saxophone, though, and thought that another guitar would have done fine in its place. Leave Them Boys Alone (featuring Waylon Jennings and Ernest Tubb) had a similar electric rock style while still being very country. It was somewhat Ooompa Loompa, but still pretty good.

Honky Tonkin’ was much more more upbeat and I did enjoy the faster tempo, but it was also much more Oompa Loompa, which was pretty distracting. Two Old Cats Like Us (a duet with Ray Charles) was similar, and Gonna Go Huntin’ Tonight was like both of those, except twice as fast.

I strongly disliked Man of Steel, which was very typical to my ear of bland modern country rock, and the two most boring songs by far were Queen of My Heart and Major Moves, which both managed to combine the worst of modern country with the worst of 80s schlock. If they are “greatest hits,” then I would not be enthusiastic about hearing Williams’ deep cuts.

The Conversation^[1] (a duet with Waylon Jennings) was the record’s weirdest “song.” It kind of reminded me of musical theater, when the characters “sing” some narrative exposition that really should just be spoken, except they’re in a musical so they can’t have a normal conversation. Musically, this “song” was fine, but I didn’t understand why it existed at all.

Attitude Adjustment was the most old fashioned sounding and fun of the songs.

Grade

3/5: interesting, but not for me