Search - Sons of the Pioneers :: Ultimate Collection

Hollywood singing cowboys

Ronald Scheer | Los Angeles | 01/31/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I grew up with many of the songs on this CD playing on the radio in the dusty Nebraska summers, where "Cool Water" always had a special haunting quality when sung by The Sons of the Pioneers -- or anybody else, for that matter. There are other classics in this collection that are good to hear again: "Tumbling Tumbleweeds," "Riders in the Sky," "The River of No Return," but the CD is mostly a collection of recordings of lesser known works, recorded chiefly in the 1930s. The 21 songs on the CD represent a range of the group's musical styles, all of them focused on vocal performances, with few instrumental flourishes. Guitars are strummed, not picked, and the fiddle adds a yearning, wistful quality to echo the sentiment of the songs. Many of them have such an easy informality, you can imagine them being sung under the stars around a campfire. The trio of voices, while they have the remarkable ability to yodel in harmony, are serviceable and unpretentious but not as interesting as the individual vocalists, including the best known of them, Leonard Slye (AKA Roy Rogers).Bob Nolan and the rest of the group apparently knew little of cowboying first hand, and their careers were centered in Hollywood, where they got a start on radio station KFWB. Their songs are typically a romanticized portrayal of the Old West and usually lament its passing. Only Johnny Mercer's ironic "I'm an Old Cowhand," though a big hit in its time, seems out of place here. Roy Rogers' sincere rendering of his own song "My Saddle Pals and I" is far closer to the main themes that run through the entire collection.The CD comes with a 12-page booklet identifying the recording date and label for each song. There's a short history of the group, from its origin to the death of Roy Rogers in 1998, and a discussion of the individual recordings, plus several publicity photos of the group through the years. Very informative and adds considerably to an appreciation of the songs. Great value."

Superbly picked overview of Sons' earliest years

hyperbolium | Earth, USA | 06/17/2002

(5 out of 5 stars)

"The trio singing and yodeling of original Sons Leonard Slye (more famously known as Roy Rogers), Bob Nolan and Tim Spencer coined a sound that quickly became the very definition of Western cowboy music. Hip-O's new collection combines the Pioneers' original 1930's Decca sides, starting with their first session, "Way Out There," with later tracks from Vocalion, Columbia, RCA Victor and Coral.Bob Nolan supplied several of the group's best-known tunes, including 1934's "Tumbling Tumbleweeds" and 1941's "Cool Water," providing some of popular culture's most memorable Western imagery. Rodgers' "My Saddle Pals and I," voiced by Lloyd Perryman, is a warm expression of the Hollywood cowboy's film ethos, and Rogers himself is heard taking lead on "Blue Bonnet Girl."Outside writers also provided the group with fine Western songs, including forest ranger Stan Jones' "Riders in the Sky" (an earlier hit for Vaughn Monroe) and the cinematic, waltz-time "The Lillies Grow High." Johnny Mercer's swinging "I'm An Old Cowhand (From the Rio Grande)," originally sung by Bing Crosby on film (with the Sons providing backing) is heard here with Rodgers and Spencer singing lead.With nearly an hour of music centered on the key early years of 1934-1937 (a quartet of sides from 1946-1954 fills out the track list), this is as good a single-disc introduction as you'll find to the Sons of the Pioneers. Colin Escott's liner notes and Laurence Zwisohn's detailed song backgrounds complete the package."

Not "ultimate," but not bad

hyperbolium | 08/26/2002

(4 out of 5 stars)

"I wouldn't consider this the "ultimate" Sons collection myself, but it's a nice introduction to the group and an overview of their long and varied career.There is one small error in the liner notes, however: Mr. Zwisohn states that Tommy Doss takes the lead on Riders in the Sky. While it's true Tommy Doss replaced Bob Nolan in 1949, Bob was around long enough to take the lead on this track. According to Zwisohn's notes in the Wagons West box, Bob Nolan was not too fond of the song when Stan Jones presented it to him for the first time. He didn't like the fact that the melody was derived from Johnny Comes Marching Home. It was, thus, somewhat ironic that he--Bob Nolan--took the lead on the Sons' first version of the tune, which is the version included in both Wagons West and the Ultimate Collection.For an inferior (but still enjoyable) version that does feature Doss's vocals, see 1959's Cool Water LP (also available on CD)."