Ernest Tubb - Classics (CD)

All Music Guide

Classics is a misleading title for an album that does indeed include some country classics, but not the classic versions of those songs. This does have numerous songs that counted among Ernest Tubb's big hits, such as "Walking the Floor Over You," "Filipino Baby," "Driftwood on the River," "Have You Ever Been Lonely (Have You Ever Been Blue)," "It's Been So Long, Darling," and "Tomorrow Never Comes" among them. The problem is, these aren't the original versions, or in fact even that close in time to the era that produced them. All sixteen of the tracks were recorded between 1977 and 1981, produced by the great Nashville steel guitarist Pete Drake, who had Tubb rerecord some of his most famous material. Tubb was nearing the end of his life and suffering from health problems, and the backing, while professional and wellexecuted, is on the sterile side. The result, as is usually the case when tunes are rerecorded long after their initial impact, lacks the freshness and verve of the originals. It's only for Tubb completists, and those looking for the best and definitive renditions of these songs should avoid this in favor of Tubb anthologies that offer the original recordings.

- Richie Unterberger, All Music Guide