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Merle Haggard - Chicago Wind Audio CD

A fair review of the Merle Haggard "Chicago Wind" Audio CD. Please note that the below review is the views of the authors, and authors only. You can get a complete list of all Merle Haggard reviews here, or go back to the Merle Haggard tabs.

Merle Haggard Band: Merle Haggard
Title: Chicago Wind
Rating:
Release Date: 2005-10-25
Media: Audio CD

Tracks: 1: Chicago Wind 2: Mexico 3: Honky Tonk Man 4: I Still Can't Say Goodbye 5: It Always Will Be 6: Leaving's Not The Only Way To Go 7: What I've Been Meaning To Say 8: Rebuild America First 9: Where's All The Freedom 10: White Man Singing The Blues 11: Some Of Us Fly (with Toby Keith)

69 and holding!
This album proves the voice is still as individual as ever and the songs are still as involving as they ever were. Having been a fan of Merle since he issued his Mama Tried album it is wonderful to see him back on the Capitol label where he made all his classic tracks. He still writes and sings a love song as well as ever and, when he's not being romantic, is not afraid to let you know his point of view on anything from political correctness to the young people fighting in Iraq and elsewhere. It's just a shame his singles and albums don't still go automatically to No 1 in their respective charts. In a world full of cookie cutter Country singers it is great to hear an American oiginal doing what he does best - writing and performing moving and thought provoking songs. Every real Country fan should listen to this album - and buy it.


Copy Protected - Do Not Buy If You Have An i-Pod
Once again, Amazon provides minimal warning about this (see guidance under "Format"), instead of putting advice in our faces - which it does excellently to sell product. Once again, EMI has created a copy protected CD which can be imported as WMA or AAC but not MP3.

I'll be returning this CD as not fit for purpose. If you can afford to, I suggest that you also buy and then return it, to maximise cost and inconvenience to the label and Amazon. If not, just don't buy it, regardless of the quality of the music.

This crap has to stop. 1 star review because Amazon prevents a zero star choice.


LET'S STICK TO THE MUSIC
So, copying and protection issues aside, let's stick to the music. I have read many of the foregoing reviews and find it interesting that much time is spent (and wasted, I might add) on the format of the CD and not on what's important here--the music.

Merle Haggard is one of those legendary musicians who many might think is of a bygone era and, perhaps, genre. After all, there are many who now divide Country into multiple groups including Country, Western, Country Western and Contemporary Country. Frankly, I think all of the compartmentalizing and categorizing is a crock of road apples. But I digress.

CHICAGO WIND is an offering that demonstrates the timelessness as well as the timeliness of the music of Merle Haggard. If you're a Haggard fan you won't have much difficulty incorporating this new work into the Haggard music anthology. Here is the voice, the delivery and the excellence that you have come to expect. If you are new to Haggard, CHICAGO WIND offers music that stands up nicely with anything that is currently topping the Country charts. This should be readily recognizable by the fact that Haggard regularly lends his vocal and musical abilities to productions by such current Country superstars as Gretchen Wilson and Toby Keith. In fact, the final track on this album features a duet with the latter.

In a world that is dominated by a plethora of portable music devices, I suppose that copy protection on a purchased album is lamentable but it really doesn't diminish the musical excellence of Haggard's latest and, arguably, greatest.

THE HORSEMAN
.


I Love It
For The Fans Of Merle, This Album Is A -Must Have. This Is A Realy Great Album By Merle Haggard.


The Hag is Back
I thought, due to age, and other elements, that his voice was headed down-hill. Best vocals I have heard Merle record since the mid-eighties. I don't know whether his vocals have improved or if he has just learned to sing slightly different to match the change in pitch. In my opinion this album as a whole, contains his best music in twenty years. None of the songs stand-out above the rest, but they are all solid. His past 5-6 studio albums contain 1-2 great songs surrounded by very bland ones. Recent albums may have had good lyrics, but the music doesn't stand up to the standards Merle has set in the past. "Chicago Wind" is an surprisingly wonderful exception to this.

It is a shame that most C&W radio stations will never play any songs that make their listeners think about political, social, economic or environmental issues.


You can see a complete list of all Merle Haggard discography, or go back to the Merle Haggard tabs. There is also a good guide on how to read guitar tabs here.

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