The first of two comprehensive
Bear Family sets chronicling the recordings of unheralded hard country singer
Eddie Noack,
Gentlemen Prefer Blondes covers the years from 1949 and 1961. He started out on
Gold Star and stayed there until 1951, when he went over to
Four Star, with his big break arriving in 1954, when he fell under the wing of
Pappy Daily, who brought him over to
Starday and then had him follow
Pappy to both
D and
Mercury.
Daily didn't just sign
Noack, he was an advocate, getting his superstar
George Jones to record many different
Noack songs, including "Relief Is Just a Swallow Away" which, when combined with
Hank Snow's hit version of
Eddie's "These Hands," helped establish
Noack as a country songwriter.
Gentlemen Prefer Blondes shows that, in addition to being a good Nashville craftsman, he was also a solid singer in his own right, working in the vein of
Hank Williams, singing hard country that sounded very much like that of
George Jones. Where
Jones was a dynamic, expressive singer,
Noack was plain-spoken and stoic -- an attribute that is admirable, sometimes alluring, but rarely makes a singer a star.
Noack was never a star, though it wasn't for lack of trying. All those attempts, along with several unreleased demos which capture his folkier side, are collected here, and although there is a slight saminess to this collection, the sturdiness of
Noack's writing and singing cannot be denied. He sounds like an important cog in the machine: a reliable songwriter and good performer who unfortunately just couldn't catch a break. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine
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