Customer Reviews

Nite Life: Greatest Hits and Rare Tracks, 1959-1971

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I'm not a professinal critic are even an amature one,but after reading the rating above I had to write in my "Two Cent's". This is an exellent overview of Willie's career in the early day's. Willie's songwriting is pure genius.Willie was first a Texas-Born Songwriter,who moved to Nashville to make a career in the music bussiness,and as these Brillently Crafted song's prove,was a success.Just really give "Am I Blue", "Touch Me" or "Opportunity To Cry" a Good listen.We have all heard Patsy Cline's version of "Crazy" and it's Beautiful!So is Willie's.Faron Young is exellent on Willie's "Hello Wall's".Willie is too, Willie Nelson is an Inavator in this craft,His song's come straight from the heart,and these song's serve as Great Landmark's In music History,and the beginning of one of Music's most Talented Artist. I am Lucky to be from Austin, Where I've grown up with Willie. If you Love Real Music, You'll Love this more and more with each Listen.This is a must have recording,If not on this C.D.- you must have Willie singing his Great Old Song's on one of his Box Set's. Let this music take you deeper and deeper into Texas Music,You Will Not Be Disappointed, Promise.

Admittedly, I haven't heard everything in Willie's huge cataloge. But listening to this, I'm struck by how strong his voice was in the early '60s when these seminal tunes were cut. These are all wonderful genre-bending songs, relaxed, down and full of soul, with Willie's trademark, just-behind-the-beat vocal phrasing, the kind of thing jazz singers have long done. Accompaniments are generally just right, spare, bluesy and loose. Nothing here is dated. If you're a "Stardust" fan or a newcomer to Willie, you'll be greatly surprised by just how right this collection sounds. Pick it up, by all means. It's a total classic glimpse of, yes, a genius just starting out, but sounding like he's got the wisdom of an old man.

I don't know how the old one-star review came in (the reviewer's only review to date), but after Willie traveled on to become a founder of the "outlaws", he then explored a wide variety of music (as Ray Charles,his friend, did from his lofty perch). Willie Nelson is not a single-gaited singer/songwriter and has shown a deep interest in and talent for singing a wide variety of music. He has not stuck to the "safety" of country music to satisfy merely the ridgerunning drop-outs. This package shows his ability to write songs. Besides the country artists who hae sung his songs, former nightclub singer Rusty Draper (big in his day) had a hit with "Nightlife" back when and one-hit wonder Jimmy Elledge had a great soul rendering of "Funny How Time Slips Away" for RCA. The list goes on. As concerns this package, I remember from my perch long ago in Tennessee the emergence of Willie Nelson as a songwriting force, his "outlaw" move (fewer violins and more fiddles), etc. But he didn't stop there. This is early Willie at his best; buy it.

Willie near his best ... phrasing often as good as Sinatra's! My favorite album of Willie's so far, with classic versions of "Half a Man," "Nite Life," "Mr. Record Man," and "Hello Walls," and "Crazy."

OK, so I know I'm not the avarage Country Music Fan, but these songs represent my favorite music by Willie Nelson. "What A Way To Live" is a song many people may know from the 1994 Mark Chesnut album by the same title... Here you have the original version. "Nite Life" is early Willie at his best, and "Rainy Day Blues" is about as "bluesy" as it gets. "Everything But You" and ""Mr. Record Man" are classic honky-tonk shuffles. Of corse, "Hello Walls" "Crazy" and "Funny How Time Slips Away" are all classic "Willie" songs that others had the hits on, but any one of these could've been the song that launched Willie's incredible hit making career if the record companies had only released them as singles. Another hi-lite of this CD is Willie's own unique version of "San Antonio Rose", done here in an almost '60's rock style. While Bob Wills surely would NOT have done it this way, it works for Willie. Well, enough said... buy this one. It's more than worth it. This is some of the best Willie Nelson music you will ever hear.

This is not only one Willie's best, but also one of the best country albums I've ever heard. the reviewer below who gave it one star missed the boat on this one by trying to stick Willie in a narrow classification. Willie deserves more than that. This album shows off Willie's incredible songwriting talent as well as his amazing versatility. Buy this CD!

...but still amazing. Willie never fails to please, and this is proof. If you want just one CD of Willie's early years, you ought to check this one out. It's got all of the really big early hits, with Rhino's enhanced sound.

You get some rarities, as the title states. I don't want to ramble, so all I'm going to say is that if you like early Willie, and you want most (if not, all) of his really big early hits, they are all here.

Highly recommended for the Willie fan. ENJOY!!!

Willie Nelson didn't become a country music superstar until 1975, when he was 42 years old. He had been trying to make it for over 20 years before he had his breakthrough hit, "Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain". Before that, he was best known as a songwriter; having written hits for Patsy Cline, Ray Price, Faron Young, Billy Walker, Roy Orbison and others. He had some moderate success as a recording artist, with his biggest hit being "Touch Me" in 1962, which was a #7 Country hit. That song is on this CD, along with a few other minor hits and several non-hits. This material shows that Willie's unique singing style had been there from the beginning. Because he was so unique, prodcers often didn't know what to do with him, and sometimes stuck him with arrangements that didn't really suit him. Most of the material here works well, although not as well as when Nashville just gave up and let Willie do his own thing. This is a good sampler of Willie's early years. My personal favorite is the autobiographical "Me and Paul".

I ordered this for a member of the family looking for a few particular songs. This cd had them all and then some. He was very satisfied with the quality of the cd. I was very satisfied with Amazon service and fast shipping of seller. Great cd for all those long time Willie Nelson fans!

This fascinating collection of early singles, rarities, and album tracks off of early Liberty and RCA recordings of Willie finds him searching for his voice, yet is entirely satisfying and remarkably consistent. It's a great record.

The early recordings of some of Willie's best known songs -- "Nite Life," "Crazy," "Healing Hands of Time," "Hello Walls" -- all benefit from the spare, open, and nuanced arrangements found here.

Willie's early rockabilly efforts are particularly successful -- "Rainy Day Blues" sounds a bit like early Mose Alison, and "Everything But You" could have fit easily onto a Johnny Cash or Elvis Sun Session recording.

Willie's bright and tasteful arrangement of "Bring Me Sunshine" -- perhaps the only song here that is not about a lost love and feeling blue and lonely -- clearly presages the work he would do a decade later with Booker T and the MGs on Stardust. I hope the album that track came off of is re-released in its entirety soon. Finally, his clever and economical songwriting style is highlighted in "One in a Row," one of his finest songs on an otherwise superlative album.

Fans of Willie would be well-served to pick up this early collection, it does not disappoint.