Most listeners know
Johnny Paycheck
from
"Take This Job and Shove It"
-- a song so popular and so iconic that it overshadows everything else
Paycheck
did, not just for
pop
fans but for
country
listeners. Couple that with a reputation for being a roughneck hellion and you have somebody who is known as a persona, not as a musician. And that's a real shame, as
Epic/Legacy
's
The Soul & the Edge: The Best of Johnny Paycheck
proves. As the first comprehensive CD collection of
's hit-making peak years of the '70s and '80s -- his early years are documented on the stellar
The Real Mr. Heartache
collection -- this collection is a revelation, offering definitive proof that he was one of the very greatest hardcore
singers. He could do it all: blue-collar rage (
"Take This Job and Shove It,"
"Me and the IRS"
), barroom weepers (
"Slide Off of Your Satin Sheets,"
"I Did the Right Thing"
) and barroom ravers (
"Fifteen Beers"
), lush
country-pop
(the
Billy Sherrill
-produced
"She's All I Got"
) and gritty
country-soul
(a
George Jones
duet on
"You Better Move On"
), tough-guy laments (
"I'm the Only Hell (My Mama Ever Raised)"
) and tough-guy bravado (
"Ragged Old Truck,"
"The Outlaw's Prayer"
). Plus, there's a wicked, bizarre sense of humor, evidenced clearly on the neo-talking
blues
"Colorado Cool-Aid,"
illustrating that he didn't tame his wildness even at his popular peak. Then there's that voice -- a resonant baritone with impeccable phrasing that some claim was an inspiration for
' style (and listening to this and
Mr. Heartache
makes those claims quite credible). It all adds up to a collection that not only captures
at his peak, but also lays claim as one of the great
albums of its era, if not all time. It's the kind of collection an artist the stature of
deserves. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine