Search - George Morgan :: Room Full of Roses

One Of The Giants Of Country

08/13/2007

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Singer, songwriter, and accomplished guitarist George Thomas Morgan, born on June 28, 1924, left us at the tender age of 51 on July 7, 1975. But not before leaving behind for our enduring pleasure and entertainment numerous albums and 35 Country hit singles, registered between 1949 and 1979.



This volume from Razor & Tie, augmented by some great liner notes and discography, presents 15 of his first 17 hit singles for Columbia, omitting only the 1959 double-sided hit Little Dutch Girl, which reached # 20, b/w The Last Thing I Want To Know, which peaked at # 26. But it does include his 1964 duet with Marion Worth on the old standard, Slipping Around [# 23].



They then skip over his last two Columbia charters, Tears And Roses [# 37 in late 1964] and A Picture That's New [# 27 early in 1966], all five of his Starday hits in 1967/68, the best of which was 1968's Sounds Of Goodbye [# 31], the two for the Stop label in 1969/70 [Like A Bird - # 30, and Lilacs And Fire - # 17], and 1971's Gentle Rains of Home, which was a # 68 for Decca.



In 1973, still with Decca, his records were billed as George Morgan Featuring "Little" Roy Wiggins, but the first, Makin' Heartaches [# 62] is also omitted. Later that year Decca became MCA and the first under that label, Mr. Ting-A-Ling (Steel Guitar Man), which reached # 56, is here, as is Red Rose From The Blue Side Of Town [# 21 early in 1974.



His last two MCA hits, billed only to George Morgan, are, however, omitted - Somewhere Around Midnight [# 66 in June 1974] and A Candy Mountain Melody [# 82 in late 1974] - but they do include his first with 4 Star, a cover of the 1964 Jerry Wallace hit In The Misty Moonlight, which topped out at # 65. Another 4 Star hit, From This Moment On, had just made its debut on the charts when he died from a heart attack. It eventually reached # 62. That too is not here.



In 1979 he had a posthumous # 93 duet with daughter Lorrie on I'm Completely Satisfied With You for the 4 Star label [the final track in this volume], and she would then go on to post 34 Country hits of her own to 1997.



Strangely, unlike contemporaries Eddy Arnold and Red Foley who had several Billboard Pop Top/Hot 100 crossovers, just one of his hits made those charts, 1949's Room Full Of Roses, which made it to # 25. Nevertheless, he was a giant in the Country field and received the ultimate honour when inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1998.



A little gem from Razor & Tie which could be elevated to 5 stars with a re-issue containing upwards of 28 tracks through the addition of some of those missing hits."