category: instrumental country / pop / jazz / easy listening

Album review:
This is a fine collection which includes many of Chet's early 78 RPM & 45 RPM sides. The overall sound quality is quite good. The selection of tracks is impressive and the CD insert booklet is very informative. Of interest is a couple of tracks from Chet's early RCA EP: PICKIN' THE HITS which includes "Dance with Me, Henry" and "Tweedlee Dee". There are early versions of "Trambone" and "Blue [Ocean] Echo". Plus there's Chet with the then short-lived ensemble "The Rhythm Rockers" on "Dig These Blues" - These all being reissued on CD for the first time!

The material on GUITAR LEGEND concentrates on Chet's early sides, then jumps to cuts from selected '50's and '60's LP's - up through some great tunes he recorded in the '70's - ending with a piece from Chet's FIRST NASHVILLE GUITAR QUARTET LP, titled "Carolina Shout" which is totally out of place on this set. In regards to the '4 previously unreleased tracks' as advertised on the CD set, these already appeared on the 1993 Bear Family Records 4-CD box set GALLOPING GUITAR: The Early Years... so no newly unissued material here.

Chet's version of "Black Mountain Rag" is incorrectly listed in the liner notes as "taken from GALLOPIN' GUITAR" (10-inch LP)... Actually this CD set includes Chet's much later version of "Black Mountain..." from the LP: PICKIN' MY WAY. It would have been nice if they had used the original 45-RPM single recording of "Windy & Warm" rather than Chet's later version from the already reissued LP: DOWN HOME (CD two-fer).

Don't get us wrong! This is a super set and highly recommended. GUITAR LEGEND could almost be called a "condensed version" of the earlier 4-CD Bear Family box. If you're in the market for Chet's early cuts, but don't want to pay the bucks for the Bear Family box, then this 2-CD set is the one to get! -- Funky Junk, 2000

CD Track Listing

Disc 1
  1. Canned Heat (Chet Atkins) (2:35)
  2. The Nashville Jump (Chet Atkins / Lowell Tennis) (2:31)
  3. Dizzy Strings (Chet Atkins) (2:42)
  4. Tellin' My Troubles To My Old Guitar (Chet: vocal) * (Don Weston) (2:45)
  5. Dance Of The Goldenrod * (John H. Tower) (2:39)
  6. Galloping On The Guitar * (Chet Atkins) (2:28)
  7. Centipede Boogie * (Chet Atkins) (2:40)
  8. Main Street Breakdown * (Chet Atkins) (2:16)
  9. Indian Love Call (Harbach / Hammerstein / Friml) (2:38)
10. Mountain Melody (Chet Atkins / Mel Forree) (2:09)
11. Jitterbug Waltz (Fats Waller) (2:36)
12. Rainbow (Bryan / Wenrich) (2:36)
13. Nobody's Sweetheart (Schoebel / Erdman / Kahn / Meyers) (2:14)
14. Chinatown, My Chinatown (Jerome / Schwartz) (1:59)
15. Fiddle Patch (w/The Country All-Stars) * (Dale Potter) (2:19)
16. (When It's) Darkness On The Delta (w/The Country All-Stars) * (Symes / Neiberg / Livingston) (2:46)
17. High Rockin' Swing * (Avants / Tennant) (2:19)
18. Guitars On Parade (Chet Atkins) (2:21)
19. Oh By Jingo! (Brown / Von Tilzer) (2:13)
20. The Bells Of St. Mary's (Adams / Furber) (2:13)
21. Country Gentleman * (Chet Atkins / Boudleaux Bryant) (2:14)
22. Memphis Blues * (W.C. Handy) (2:08)
23. Downhill Drag * (Chet Atkins / Boudleaux Bryant) (2:22)
24. Ballin' The Jack (previously unissued) (Smith / Burris) (2:56)
25. Silver Bell (guitar duet w/Hank Snow) (Wenrich / Madden) (2:14)
  * Homer Haynes (rhythm guitar) & Jethro Burns (mandolin)
Total timing: 61:04

Disc 2
  1. Mister Sandman (Pat Ballard) (2:18)
  2. New Spanish Two-Step (Duncan / Wills) (2:11)
  3. The Poor People Of Paris (Jean's Song) (Marguerite Monnot) (1:59)
  4. Tweedlee Dee (Winfield Scott) (2:24)
  5. (The Wallflower) Dance With Me, Henry (Etta / Otis) (2:22)
  6. Blue [Ocean] Echo (Chet Atkins / Boudleaux Bryant) (2:19)
  7. Trambone (Chet Atkins) (2:12)
  8. Dig These Blues (w/The Rhythm Rockers) (Chatman Bros / Greene / Marshall) (2:24)
  9. Yesterdays (Kern / Harbach) (2:20)
10. Walk, Don't Run (Johnny Smith) (2:24)
11. Hot Toddy (w/Boots Randolph: saxophone) (Ralph Flanagan) (2:24)
12. Slinkey (Chet Atkins) (2:04)
13. Frankie & Johnny (w/The Nashville All-Stars) (trad. arr. Chet Atkins) (3:37)
14. Windy & Warm (John D. Loudermilk) (2:28)
15. Early Times (Jerry Reed) (2:40)
16. Satan's Doll (w/Floyd Cramer: piano) (Johnny Smith) (3:51)
17. So Rare (w/Floyd Cramer: piano) (Herst / Sharpe) (3:03)
18. Yakety Axe (w/Charlie McCoy: harmonica) (Randolph / Rich) (2:04)
19. Blue Angel (Natalico Lima) (2:25)
20. Steeplechase Lane (Jerry Hubbard) (2:26)
21. Black Mountain Rag (Tommy Magness) (2:35)
22. Take Five (Chet: solo guitar) (Paul Desmond; arr. Jorge Morel) (2:42)
23. Blue Finger (Chet: solo guitar) (Jerry R. Hubbard) (2:38)
24. Cascade (Gene Sloan) (2:26)
25. Carolina Shout (w/The First Nashville Guitar Quartet) (James P. Johnson; arr. Pell / Knowles / Atkins) (2:39)
Total timing: 63:08

Label/No: Buddha Records 99673-2

Release date: 2000 reissue