Country USA (Time-Life Music) - History

History

"Country USA" was first issued during the summer of 1988, and is pattered after Time-Life's successful "Rock'n'Roll Era" and "Your Hit Parade" series. It represented Time-Life's first real attempt at chronicling country music's post-1950 history; earlier in the 1980s, Time-Life had a budget "Country Series" and the later "Country & Western Classics."

During its peak, the "Country USA" series was advertised in television and magazine advertisements. The series was available by subscription (by calling a 1-800 number); those who purchased the series in that fashion received a new volume roughly every other month (on the format of their choice), and had the option of keeping just the volumes they wanted. Each volume was also offered for individual sale.

New volumes continued to be issued through 1991. Another series, "Contemporary Country," essentially picked up where "Country USA" left off, as that series covered the 1970s through early 1990s.

Time-Life continued to offer "Country USA" through the early first decade of the 21st century. The series has essentially been replaced by "Classic Country." Three newer series — "Country Gold," "Superstars of Country" and "Lifetime of Country Romance" — have also since been issued.

Critics widely hailed "Country USA" as a definitive overview of the genre during what some refer to as the Golden Age. In many cases, the songs offered on each volume represented the first time they had ever been re-released on compact disc. However, critics tempered their praise by pointing out a few minor faults, such as the exclusion of some tracks (in lieu of songs that weren't necessarily hits) and alternate versions/re-recordings of some hits.

Read more about this topic:  Country USA (Time-Life Music)

Famous quotes containing the word history:

    While the Republic has already acquired a history world-wide, America is still unsettled and unexplored. Like the English in New Holland, we live only on the shores of a continent even yet, and hardly know where the rivers come from which float our navy.
    Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)

    I believe that history has shape, order, and meaning; that exceptional men, as much as economic forces, produce change; and that passé abstractions like beauty, nobility, and greatness have a shifting but continuing validity.
    Camille Paglia (b. 1947)

    The second day of July 1776, will be the most memorable epoch in the history of America. I am apt to believe that it will be celebrated by succeeding generations as the great anniversary festival. It ought to be commemorated, as the day of deliverance, by solemn acts of devotion to God Almighty. It ought to be solemnized with pomp and parade, with shows, games, sports, guns, bells, bonfires and illuminations, from one end of this continent to the other, from this time forward forever more
    John Adams (1735–1826)