Customer Rating: 
Summary: missing a cut from the original album
Comment: What happened to "Tall Handsome Stranger" ? I would like to order this cd but I notice this version is lacking at least one cut from the original album.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Agree With Very Good; Agree With Incomplete
Comment: I purchased this CD from Amazon for one cut, the delighful and insightful "Mr. Shorty." Alas, like the previous reviewer noted about "El Paso," this song is also woefully diminished by omission of key verses. The original consisted of nineteen verses, of which four are missing here.
Verses 3 and 4
Said he was needin' some wages
Before he could ride for the west
Said he could do most all kind of work
Said he could ride with the best.
There in his blue eyes was sadness
That comes from the need of a friend
And tho' he tried, he still couldn't hide
The loneliness there, deep within.
Verses 7 and 8
The eyes of the little man narrowed
The smile disappeared from his face
Gone was the friendliness that I had seen
And a wild look of hate took its' place.
But the big one continued to mock him
And he told me that I'd better go
Find him a couple of glasses of milk
Then maybe Shorty would grow.
All four essential to complete understanding of the story.
The problem is that this is a "Not-Sold-In-Stores" TV offer compilation, and had to be edited for time to get all the songs on the disk. I would have preferred to see one less song (my choice would have been "Five Brothers") and be complete on the ones included.
All that said, edited Marty is infinitely better than no Marty at all, and the CD as a whole is an enjoyable listen. One star less than perfect for the editing, but recommended for lovers of Marty and his music.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Enough to Satisfy
Comment: Just as people called Johnny Cash the "Man in Black" (as to how he usually dressed) and he wrote a song by that name and George Jones was "No Show" Jones (for missing shows) and wrote a song also, Marty Robbins was referred to in a review long ago as the "Cowboy in the Continental Suit" and wrote the song. It was not a spectacular hit. It's included here. Between the two El Paso songs was the middle of the story ("Feleena, the Girl From El Paso"). It's left out here; it was not a big hit but we learned she DID love only that cowboy in El Paso. Marty sings "Red River Valley" as well as it's ever been sung (nobody is sure who wrote it). Two songs written by a man Marty admired, Bob Nolan of the Sons of the Pioneers, are included.("Cool Water", "Tumbling Tumbleweeds"). There are also two by Victor Young who wrote movie themes from the early 1930s to 1956, "Strawberry Roan" (previously done by Gene Autry) and "Streets of Laredo". With that history and Marty Robbins doing the vocals, a Western fan can't go wrong. Five stars.
Customer Rating:
Summary: An excellent introduction to Marty's western material
Comment: The other reviews have stated what this exactly is: A compilation of 20 of Marty's classic western songs. William Fairchild, the deal with El Paso being edited is that's what's on the stereo album master which is the source Gusto/TeeVee used for this track rather than the mono 45rpm master which has the additional verse. If you would have bought the Legacy/American Milestones series remaster of Gunfighter Ballads and Trail Songs or the Bear Family Under Western Skies boxed set, you would have known this already.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Very good, but incomplete :-(((
Comment: I love Marty Robbins and all the music on this CD, but was VERY disappointed to discover that an entire verse had been omitted from his all-time greatest cowboy outlaw song "El Paso." In case you don't have a photographic music memory, the missing verse is right after he shoots the cowboy. Here is what is missing:
"... the handsome young stranger lay dead on the floor.JUST FOR A MOMENT I STOOD THERE IN SILENCE
SHOCKED BY THE FOUL, EVIL DEED I HAD DONE.
MANY THOUGHTS RACED THROUGH MY MIND AS I STOOD THERE.
I HAD BUT ONE CHANCE, AND THAT WAS TO RUN.
Out through the back door of Rose's I ran.....
This CD contains "digitally remastered" versions of his old hits. Whoever digitally remastered this first track on the CD did so seamlessly, and if you don't know all the words you won't realize it is missing. Nevertheless, I am shocked by the foul, evil deed that was done to this epic song.
