Hank Williams Jr. was more his father's son in his first decade of recording than he was the rowdy Southern outlaw country boy he turned himself into, and his early work with Mercury Records shows an artist looking for something distinctive and, more often than not, not quite finding it. This set presents some of the better sides from those Mercury years, and songs like "Stoned at the Jukebox," "Standing in the Shadows," and "Cajun Baby" hold up well as classic country tracks even if they don't quite sound like his Bocephus persona yet. ~ Steve Leggett
