Roger Miller - The One and Only (1965/2019) [Hi-Res]

Clocking in at 22 minutes from the RCA vault, this album presents some of the songs that were country chart items before Roger Miller really hit the jackpot with his Smash recordings. "Burma Shave" must have been some kind of vision, taking listeners into the realm of fantasy and silliness that would become Miller's private territory a few years later. It is a crazy, almost soul music arrangement, as all over the place as are many of the tracks here, as if Miller's songwriting hadn't quite gotten as far out as some of the musical situations he wanted to get into. He redid "It Happened Just That Way," but this earlier version is lovely. For a shortie "cash-in" collection, this holds up rather well. ~ Eugene Chadbourne