Track Listing

Disc 1:

1. Wayfaring Stranger
2. Rodger Young
3. Foggy Foggy Dew
4. Turtle Dove
5. I'm Sad and I'm Lonely
6. My Good Old Man
7. Old Uncle Ned
8. Po' Boy
9. Devil's Nine Questions
10. No Wood Fire
11. Ten Thousand Miles
12. Blue Tail Fly - Burl Ives, Chorus
13. I'm Goin' Down the Road - Burl Ives,
14. Big Rock Candy Mountain
15. Old Dan Tucker
16. Erie Canal
17. Lolly-Too-Dum
18. Dublin City
19. Cockle Shells
20. Fox
21. Aunt Rhody
22. Saturday Night
23. Eddystone Light
24. Hullabaloo Belay
25. Venezuela
26. Wake Nicodemus
27. On the Grand Canyon Line
28. Cowboy's Lament
29. Down in the Valley

Disc 2:

1. Blue Tail Fly
2. Careless Love - Bing Crosby, Burl Ives
3. I'm Goin' Down the Road - Bing Crosby, Burl Ives
4. Dialogue with Bing Crosby - Bing Crosby, Burl Ives
5. When I Was Single
6. Hey Liley, Liley Lo - Bing Crosby, Burl Ives, Les Paul
7. I'm Goin' Down the Road - Bing Crosby, Burl Ives, Les Paul
8. It Makes No Difference
9. I'm Thinking Tonight of My Blue Eyes
10. Blue Tail Fly - The Andrews Sisters, Burl Ives, Vic Schoen & His Orchestra
11. I'm Goin' Down the Road - The Andrews Sisters, Burl Ives, Vic Schoen & His Orchestra
12. Sweet Betsy from Pike - Bing Crosby, Burl Ives
13. Clementine - Bing Crosby, Burl Ives
14. Private Face (Sketch) - Bing Crosby, Howard Duff, Burl Ives, Clifton Webb
15. Dialogue with Bing Crosby - Bing Crosby, Howard Duff, Burl Ives, Clifton Webb
16. Lavender Blue (Dilly Dilly) - Captain Stubby & The Buccaneers, Burl Ives
17. Billy Boy - Captain Stubby & The Buccaneers, Burl Ives
18. Clementine - Bing Crosby, Burl Ives, Dinah Shore
19. Lavender Blue (Dilly Dilly)
20. Dialogue with Bing Crosby - Bing Crosby, Burl Ives
21. On Top of Old Smokey - Burl Ives, The Rhythmaires
22. Little White Duck - Bing Crosby, Burl Ives
23. Noah Found Grace in the Eyes of the Lord - Burl Ives, The Rhythmaires
24. On Top of Old Smokey - Bing Crosby, Burl Ives, The Rhythmaires
25. Wild Side of Life - Burl Ives,
26. It's So Long and Goodbye to You - Burl Ives,
27. One Hour Ahead of the Posse - Burl Ives, Anita Kerr Singers

Disc 3:

1. Lonesome, So Lonesome - Burl Ives, Anita Kerr Singers
2. This Time Tomorrow - Burl Ives, Anita Kerr Singers
3. There's a Mule Up in Tombstone, Arizona - Burl Ives, Anita Kerr Singers
4. Diesel Smoke, Dangerous Curves - Burl Ives,
5. Little Green Valley - Burl Ives,
6. Killigrew's Soiree
7. Hush Little Baby
8. Tibby Dunbar
9. Hear the Nightingale Sing
10. Golden Vanity
11. Git Along Little Dogies
12. From Here on Up, The Hills Don't Get Any Higher
13. Old Bangham
14. I Know an Old Lady
15. Blue Tail Fly
16. Goober Peas
17. Three Jolly Huntsmen - Burl Ives, , Orchestra
18. Riddle Song - Burl Ives, , Orchestra
19. Hen Is in the Haymow - Burl Ives, , Orchestra
20. From the Time You Say Goodbye -- The Parting Song
21. Close the Door, Richard
22. Left My Gal in the Mountains
23. Great White Bird - Burl Ives, Anita Kerr Singers
24. Liza Jane
25. Nellie McNess
26. Wealthy Old Maid

Disc 4:

1. Devilish Mary
2. Woman and the Chivalrous Shark
3. My Pretty Little Miss
4. Molly Malone
5. Let's Go A-Huntin'
6. Crawdad Song - Burl Ives,
7. Hound Dog - Burl Ives,
8. Barbara Allen
9. Divil and the Farmer
10. St. John's River
11. Henry Martin
12. Lolly-Too-Dum
13. How Now Shepherd
14. Cod Liver Oil
15. Waly Waly
16. Bonnie Wee Lassie
17. Venezuela
18. Rodger Young
19. Mr. Froggie Went A-Courtin'
20. Big Rock Candy Mountain
21. Frankie and Johnny
22. Blue Tail Fly
23. Wayfaring Stranger/Sign-Off

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #191132 in Music
• Released on: 2005-05-17
• Number of discs: 4
• Format: Box set

Customer Reviews

consistent good quality and in chronological order
"The Golden Years of The Wayfaring Stanger", transfers and production by Geoff Milne (4CD box, 2005 Jasmine Records).

All of these original Decca recordings (made from 1945 to 1953) have been transferred from vinyl yet sound quite clean (despite the odd blip or thud)and have a consistent sonic quality, regardless of whether they were live (on CD4 - the 1953 Coronation Concert in London), on radio (on CD2 - guesting on the Bing Crosby show) or from various studio sessions (on all 4 CDs). Part of the reason for the sonic consistency may be in that there has clearly been a decision made in the noise reduction process to also filter out any frequency above about 7kHz on all the tracks - however the remaining audio is very comfortable to listen to.

I've recently done a couple of my own Burl Ives transfers to CD, including carefully removing each audible pop or click from an excellent condition vinyl LP of "The Wild Side Of Life" - all those tracks also appear on this CD set. I can hear a big difference between my CD and Geoff Milne's. I know that the studio recordings were bona fide HiFi mono, with truly amazing subtleties in musicianship and vocal harmony. The only way to appreciate all that intricate detail is to accept also hearing some surface noise. However I'd still have to say that these productions by Geoff Milne are appealing, even though they have less dynamic range.

I like that all the tracks are arranged in chronological order of performance (rather than of release) and that we are given the actual dates and some other details. Geoff Milne's accompanying booklet includes an informed biography and is a good read.

Anyone who grew up with the albums "The Wild Side Of Life" and "Women - Folk Songs About The Fair Sex" will be happy to know that all those original tracks are here in very good quality.

There are also five versions of "The Blue Tail Fly", but not a dud song in sight. Highly recommended for any Burl Ives fan.

Great CD
Over 100 songs sung by Burl Ives on 4 CD's. Some songs are repeated as different versions. Some duets with Bing Crosby.