Customer Reviews

Jesus Was a Capricorn

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is Kris's fourth album and is an excellent one. This CD provides a great example of the different songwriting styles Kristofferson employs. There are three social/political songs. The title track is a criticism of closed-mindedness, very much in the vein of "Blame it on the Stones" and "The Law is for Protection of the People" from the "Me and Bobby McGee" album. Jesse Younger is probably better known. It is a sarcastic (as only Kris can be) take on parents who try to control the lives of their children. "Out of Mind, Out of Sight" is the other political song and it shows how involved Kristofferson was in some of the movements of the day.

There are also a couple of gospel songs, unusual for Kris. "Help Me" was written by Larry Gatlin, who also helps sing it. "Why Me", written by Kristofferson, has become a gospel standard, performed by numerous artists such as Conway Twitty and Johnny Cash. It is, of course, better known as "Why Me Lord". In my opinion, Kris's own version is one of the better ones. The songwriter knows best.

Most of the other songs are personal and/or love songs. Two, "It Sure Was (Love)" and "Give It Time to Be Tender" are duets with then wife Rita Coolidge. The latter is truly excellent.

This CD is one that all Kristofferson fans will want in their collections.

Being from the river hills of the Missouri and Ozark rivers in Missouri, this album was a standy by for most of my family along with Ernest Tubb and Roy Acuff. With that said, this album is in my opinion Kristofferson's best. Wheather you're a rock n' roller or hard core country freak or both, this album is a must have. It is truly a work of art and one of the most moving pieces of work from the country genre I have ever heard. His jumps into gospel are beautiful. His band on this album trtuly understands what Kristofferson is trying to convey. I first heard this on Quadraphonic 8 Trac back in 1974. I have heard it on vinyl and on cd. I like vinyl the best but the cd is definitely worth the buy.

I can remember watching my mom iron with the headphones on listening to this record (and singing at the top of her lungssorry mom! ) when I was just a child. I was checking this album out to purchase for her, and am sorry to say, she will have to buy her own! It made me cry, the songs are so wonderful. "Why me Lord" did not make any sense to me when I was a child. I thought it was a tragic song about someone who had bad things happening to him. This song (as well as most of the rest) make me feel so good, they give me such hope. As a child, I could not see why she thought he was so beautiful, well now as a woman I can see! Kris Kristopherson has a new generation of fans!

I have to echo the sentiments of Micheal Carley in his review about this album.I still have the original vinyl version and still play it frequently and am still moved in the same way each time,as I am with all the rest of Kris' music it never seems to become old.His step into gospel with Why Me and Help Me were a surprise for me at the time but I really did (and still do) find them quite moving.Other versions I've heard of these two hymns have never sounded or felt as meaningful as these versions. Being a young man at the time of this albums release,and having just left home, the song Jesse Younger really seemed to make an impact on me and like so much of Kris' music at the time seemed to reflect my own sentiments about the worlds politics and issues of the day.

This is one of my favourite CDs from KK. My sister and I purchased the cassette when it was originally released back in the seventies, but it eventually was wore out, hence the purchase now of the CD. Its a CD I can listen to over and over.

The title track alone on this one is worth the purchase. Only his third or forth album, so it should come to no surprise that it's full of classics. Song themes range fron the absurd to the tragic through folk and country styles, with several friends dropping in on the album to sing some support. This is the stuff that kept him fameous, folks--worth every minute.

As far as I'm concerned, this is the best that Kris & Rita ever put down on vinyl! I've owned a copy of this album in some form or another ever since 1973....I'll never be without a copy either!

The time was the late 1970's, I used to listen to WHN in NY while driving around in my VW Beetle. I often heard Why me Lord?, and the DJ would always mention "From the LP Jesus was a Capricorn". By that time, the LP seemed to already be out of print in this part of the country. You just couldn't find it anywhere. Spring forward to 1989, I discovered this LP in a large box of records at a garage sale. What amazed me upon my first listen was that there were much better songs on the LP than Why Me.The title track is hilarious as only Kris can be, and has great finger-picking. The third track (It sure was love) is a great duet with Rita Coolidge. The 5th track Help Me, is probably the best song Larry Gatlin ever wrote, the arrangement is absolutely gorgeous and heartfelt. It is a song for the addict or alcoholic or person going through great personal difficulty, and nothing can be more genuine. Side 2 starts with Jessie Younger, a very cool and funny and sarcastic song like only Kris can write. Give it time to be tender may be the BEST duet he ever recorded with Rita Coolidge. Out of Mind out of sight is another great country party song on the lines of a song from Border Lord called Getting by high and strange. Sugar Man is a great bluesy song, a real downer about a girl who overdoses - another of Kris's heroin songs. The LP ends with the hit Why Me. There is not one bad song on this LP, and there's a group of exceptional ones. This is quite simply a classic. This is American music at it's best, a long-vanished era in my opinion, before 2 or 3 dinosaur companies were allowed to swallow up the recording and radio industries. Buy this CD - you will be thankful you did because country music and country-rock was never any better than this.

Kris Kristofferson / Jesus was a Capricorn: The relationship between Kris and Rita may not have lasted but this album will endure. This is one of the Kristofferson albums that belongs in every music lovers collection. Five Stars

was looking for another song, happened to remember this album from my teen years and found it on cd. What a find, brings back some wonderful and bittersweet memories.