Search - Mel Tillis :: Ultimate Mel Tillis

Numbing Medriocrity

Dan Bogaty | 05/13/2010

(2 out of 5 stars)

"I bought THE ULTIMATE MEL TILLIS CD cheap for the purpose of getting two songs, "Brand New Mr. Me" and "The Arms of a Fool", both of which are nice standard country shuffles and both of which are musically pretty much the same song. But I also like 1970's country music and was hoping the CD might contain a few other songs that I'd want to hear more than once. It doesn't.



Tillis has a pleasant if unexceptional voice and he is easy enough to listen to, but at the same time he does nothing that makes you stop and think "Whoa, let me back that up a taste"; nothing that is exciting or interesting; nothing like you heard regularly from George Jones, Jerry Lee Lewis, Merle Haggard, or the late great Johnny Paycheck.

In short the singing is competent - nothing more. There is nothing unusual, nothing that stands out, nothing of particular interest. The musicianship is competent - nothing more. There is nothing unusual, nothing that stands out, nothing of particular interest. The songs are competent - nothing more. There is nothing unusual, nothing that stands out, nothing of particular interest.



There are two positives for me besides the two songs for which I bought the CD:

There is nothing actively offensive on the CD except for the song "Woman In the Back of My Mind", which is truly nauseating.

And THE ULTIMATE MEL TILLIS is short, coming in at either 25:17 or 25:56 depending where on the CD cover you look. I haven't been moved enough to time it for myself and am content that either way, the first and only time I listened to the whole thing, it consumed under a half hour of my time.







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