"The Man" was
Lorne Greene's second biggest hit after
"Ringo," reaching the Top 20 on the
easy listening charts.
Greene sings, rather than speaks, the inspirational lyrics in his deep bass voice to the accompaniment of a heavenly choir. The accompanying album is billed as a "steel-drivin', mountain-movin' album," which pretty well sums it up.
Greene's music is dramatic and lavishly produced, more similar to
Dimitri Tiomkin themes, Western movie
musicals, and
Jimmy Dean's
"Big Bad John" than
traditional country, which is why he enjoyed most of his success on the
pop charts. Fittingly, the liner notes for
The Man were written by
film music maestro
Henry Mancini, who surely appreciated
Joe Reisman's theatrical arrangements.
Greene prefaces each song with a brief spoken introduction before launching into beefy interpretations of
"Sixteen Tons," "Nine Pound Hammer," and more recent compositions. The newer songs are rugged tales of graveyard fillers and whiskey swillers, with interludes for square dancing (
"Chickasaw Mountain") and abiding love (
"Darling, My Darling").
Greene sometimes wavers off-pitch, but his voice is such a unique and appealing instrument that it hardly matters. ~ Greg Adams
