Selected Sides 1947-1953: The Very Best of Bluegrass contains 94 remastered tracks spread out over four CDs, covering the earliest recordings of both
the Stanley Brothers and
Flatt & Scruggs. The Stanley Brothers material highlights their initial post-World War II recordings from 1947 and 1948 for Rich-R-Tone and their four-year run with Columbia from 1949-1953. Classic tunes like "Molly and Tenbrooks," "Little Maggie," "Pretty Polly," and "I'm a Man of Constant Sorrow," heard here in their original incarnations, would became standards of the genre. Equally rich in revelatory material are the
Flatt & Scruggs tunes recorded for Mercury from 1948 to 1952, between a four-year stint with
Bill Monroe's Bluegrass Boys and their longstanding contract with Columbia Records. During this four-year period, the newly formed Foggy Mountain Boys introduced songs that would become hallmarks of bluegrass music, including "Foggy Mountain Breakdown," "Roll in My Sweet Baby's Arms," "Old Salty Dog Blues," and "Pike County Breakdown." Purists will find this box to their liking, as JSP not only does an admirable job remastering the tracks but also provides recording dates, personnel, and a bit of history, all easily accessible in individual jewel cases as opposed to a bulky booklet. Well done and recommended. ~ Al Campbell