Guitar Legend: The RCA Years

Amazon.com
Chet Atkins recorded way too often, in way too many dubious contexts; wanting to showcase the depth and breadth of his playing, he instead buried himself. So what's a fan to do? This two-disc set is beautifully programmed, keeping all emphasis on Chet himself, from the delicate drive of 1947's "Canned Heat" to the four-guitar interplay of 1978's "Carolina Shout." Though he recorded frequently over the years with A-list country sidemen under various names, his most enduring work remains the scintillating sides with guitarist Homer Haynes and mandolinist Jethro Burns (and you thought they were just a novelty act). There's also a rare rollicking reading of "Dig These Blues." And any set that follows the sweet timing of "Guitars on Parade" with the high-stepping "Bells of Saint Mary's" and the piercing "Country Gentleman" is indeed irrefutable testimonial to a guitarist who often hid his own virtues. This is the one Atkins album you really need to own. --John Morthland

Guitar Legend: The RCA Years,Chet Atkins,Buddha,Arranger,Country,Country & Western,Country Boogie,Country-Pop,Guitar,Instrumental Country,Nashville Sound/Countrypolitan,Pop,Producer,Traditional Country

Average customer rating:

Velvet Glove

Stellar collection from the greatest guitarist ever

great stuff from a great guitar player

Excellent sampler of the first 30 years of Chet's career...

Nashville Cat

Guitar Legend: The RCA Years
Chet Atkins
Manufacturer: Buddha
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Country | Styles | Music
Nashville Sound | Traditional Country | Country | Styles | Music
General | Traditional Country | Country | Styles | Music
Similar Items:

The Essential Chet Atkins

A Master And His Music

The Essential Chet Atkins: The Columbia Years

Chet Atkins Picks on the Beatles

Almost Alone

ASIN: B00004S7JG
Release Date: 2000-04-04

Tracks:

Canned Heat
The Nashville Jump
Dizzy Strings
Tellin' My Troubles To My Old Guitar
Dance Of The Goldenrod
Galloping On The Guitar
Centipede Boogie
Main Street Breakdown
Indian Love Call
Mountain Melody
Jitterbug Waltz
Rainbow
Nobody's Sweetheart
Chinatown, My Chinatown
Fiddle Patch
(When It's) Darkness On The Delta
High Rockin' Swing
Guitars On Parade
Oh By Jingo!
The Bells Of St. Mary's
Country Gentlemen
Memphis Blues
Downhill Drag
Ballin' The Jack
Silver Bell

Tracks:

Mister Sandman
New Spanish Two Step
The Poor People Of Paris (Jean's Song)
Tweedlee Dee
(The Wallflower) Dance With Me, Henry
Blue Ocean Echo
Trambone
Dig These Blues
Yesterdays
Walk, Don't Run
Hot Toddy
Slinkey
Frankie And Johnny
Windy And Warm
Early Times
Satan's Doll
So Rare
Yakety Axe
Blue Angel
Steeplechase Lane
Black Mountain Rag
Take Five
Blue Finger
Cascade
Carolina Shout

Amazon.com

Chet Atkins recorded way too often, in way too many dubious contexts; wanting to showcase the depth and breadth of his playing, he instead buried himself. So what's a fan to do? This two-disc set is beautifully programmed, keeping all emphasis on Chet himself, from the delicate drive of 1947's "Canned Heat" to the four-guitar interplay of 1978's "Carolina Shout." Though he recorded frequently over the years with A-list country sidemen under various names, his most enduring work remains the scintillating sides with guitarist Homer Haynes and mandolinist Jethro Burns (and you thought they were just a novelty act). There's also a rare rollicking reading of "Dig These Blues." And any set that follows the sweet timing of "Guitars on Parade" with the high-stepping "Bells of Saint Mary's" and the piercing "Country Gentleman" is indeed irrefutable testimonial to a guitarist who often hid his own virtues. This is the one Atkins album you really need to own. --John Morthland

Customer Reviews:

Velvet Glove.......2007-05-20

I finally discovered iTunes on my new MAC...and downloaded this today.
Is this a steel string right? Yeah babe it is... I'm seriously infatuated with listening to Chet Atkins this evening, Balling the Jack right now looking forward to hearing the Black Mountain Rag in a second. Who needs to hear me extol his playing ability? Who needs my opinion on his jazz undertones, on the way he plays... He makes a mockery of anyone foolish enough to forget how terrific a player he is...Take Five, lovely. Go man..gotta think on the Tennessee tones right now from my family roots I'm listening large tonight. And it's funny I'll tell you I can hear in this Centipede Boogie that ukulele he started with long ago and my dad loved so much.It's in there, trust me.

Tell me these are my roots, please...please...excuse me a second gotta bring this one on home no, up a little bit here to stomp it. Ah..that's right..smooth sound. Gliding. Cleanest player I ever heard. Blue Angel...let me pull myself together.Dig These Blues...And down here to the the Memphis Blues...listen to that awhile...gotta go tap around the kitchen table get me some sugar now. ...so... sweet.Ah babe.

Do you want to know the way I like to think about my life in West Virginia? The good times, arts fairs, the culture, the bluegrass, people, seeing friend Thelma in my mind, the schools, the mourning mist and the sweat of the sticky summer, the cranberry bogs, the coal tipples, the little ones waiting for your time, the cookin, the jams, jellies, four H, the days mowing the yard, times jumping over the violets, finding a boxturtle or indigo bunting? Well, now, listen to Chet tell you my life. Let him glide fingers, take you right away into a country girls' dreams of art, culture, meanings and metaphors set in the hills and Appalachian springs. It's here you'll find me. jazz and all...I'm here. Listen. My past is here. Mountain melody..

Looking for a good gift, this would make anyones day, beautiful compilation. Smooth, clean, exquisite. i just wish I was sitting in a room filled with hammered ddulcimers taking on playing along...right now. Ah...just have to settle for resting my head or jumping up with my son.
Play it baby.

"Years from now, after I'm gone someone will listen to what I've done and know I was here. They may not know or care who I was, but they'll hear my guitars speaking for me."
Atkins

Stellar collection from the greatest guitarist ever.......2006-02-20

No self respecting guitar player should be without Chet Atkins in his or her collection. Atkins' virtuosity, taste and almost incomprehensible range of playing are simply unparalled.
"The RCA Years" is a superb compilation of his work starting in 1947 with "Canned Heat" and follows through to the late '70's before Chet jumped ship to Columbia to pursue a more jazzy path than RCA was willing to allow.
Every track in this 50 song double CD is indispensible. We hear shred guitar before the term and the hot shots of the 80's, including Vai and Satriani were even born. Never hokey, Atkins was a living breathing slice of American music history. Rock and roll, bluegrass, country, blues and jazz are blended together in a musical soup that astonishes the listener, usually in the space of a single song.
The accompanying booklet is interesting, along with early photos of the great man. It's the best place to start for the serious Atkins fan and beginner alike, and damn hard to beat, although his "Essential" CD's are good company. Guitarists, pay your dues today.

great stuff from a great guitar player.......2005-10-15

Chet Atkins was truly a great musician, although he recorded a lot of crap over the years. This CD showcases his guitar talent, ranging from 1947-1978. Not every song is a classic, but there are some truly good ones here, it will open up your eyes a lot.

Excellent sampler of the first 30 years of Chet's career..........2004-02-25

I first became a fan of Chet Atkins in 1957, when I was 13. My new brother-in-law played an early LP for me in which Chet picked (and sang) a song about the Titanic. That tune's not included in these two hours, but one early Chet vocal is on here, just to show us why we don't need more of his voice. His artistic genius was in the picking, and this collection shows his versatility quite well. One criticism of Chet is that he recorded too much, and perhaps that is true, but after all, that was his job. Not every LP was ground-breaking, and a lot of Chet's work falls into the "easy listening" or "good background music" category, including some tracks on this set. But there was so much more to the man than those quiet recordings. He did jazz, pop, country/pop, traditional country, rock and roll, semi-classical---alone and with small groups, in duets and with orchestras. I was lucky enough to see Chet in person twice. Once was a concert, which included Boots Randolph on sax and Floyd Cramer on piano, but Chet was clearly the centerpiece. The other occasion was really special. In Nashville in 1968 I was in the audience for a recording session Chet produced, featuring country comedians (and superb instrumentalists) Homer and Jethro. One of the session musicians was Jerry Reed, later to become a star himself. Chet did not play, as I recall--- he supervised, and teased, and conducted, and solved problems. He was RCA's top man in Nashville at the time, and it was fascinating to watch him work. The result was released on LP as "Homer and Jethro Live at Vanderbilt University" but sadly has not been issued on CD. My applause is probably on it, and I'd like to own a copy. I knew who Homer and Jethro were because my parents had owned an earlier album of theirs, but I did not know at the time how respected they were as artists, or that their friendship with Chet went back 20 years. Since becoming a Chet fan in '57, I bought a handful of his own records over the years, but he made far too many for any one guy to own them all. This double CD set is welcome in my home as a tribute to a great guitarist and recording executive. If you are already a fan, it is a worthy addition. If you are new to Chet, I'd say this is essential. He helped make the guitar more prominent in both country and rock in his heyday during the '50's, and he helped make Nashville famous and country music more mainstream in the '60's. Many think the latter transformation was a mixed blessing, but overall Chet Atkins is a towering figure in American popular music, and this collection proves it.

Nashville Cat.......2003-02-18

This is a great album. As point of departure I am a guitarist with eclectic tastes, and more interested in Chet for his technical and arrangeing abilitites than for the selections of tunes. That being said, this is my fifth or sixth Chester CD and it is interesting, and there are always great tunes on every album.

As with so many guitarists, such as Clapton and Page, the RCA collection showcases Chet's evolution from frantic virtuoso (with flaming L7 in tow) into a rounded, melodic interpretative artist.

The CD disc 1 is early stuff, with a more jazzy hillbilly feel-very cool, but a bit lacking in the fidelity department as befits the era. The disc 2 is some later stuff and it is extraordinary and worth the entire set price-there are some jazz tunes which are Chet at this best. This is a more sophisticated look into Chet and for the neophite not a bad first choice (although the best Chet sampler, IMHO, is Master and his Music). For those who really enjoy Chester and wish to visit his roots this is a good CD and bears the price.

Music Album:

Music Album