BEST OF/20TH CENTURY - CD

Includes liner notes by Colin Escott. Digitally remastered by Gary Mayo (Polygram Studios). Includes liner notes by Joseph F. Laredo. All tracks have been digitally remastered. This is part of MCA's 20th Century Masters: The Millennium Collection series. Those seeking a thorough overview of country legend Hank Williams's career can seek out one of the impressive box sets devoted to the singer. Other interested parties might examine 20 GREATEST HITS or its two-disc cousin 40 GREATEST HITS. The more frugal-minded newcomer, who wants only to dip a tentative, inexpensive toe into the Williams waters, will be well suited by this budget-priced compilation. It does a fine job of encapsulating the career of an American genius in just a dozen songs. All the sides of the artist are represented here, from the hard-living honky-tonker ("Move it on Over"), to the woebegone wastrel ("Lost Highway"), and the repentant sinner ("I Saw the Light"). While this disc only gives the listener a brief taste of the treasures waiting in the Williams catalog, that taste is undeniably tantalizing.