Ramblin Man [Original recording remastered]

Waylon Jennings | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (February 8, 2000)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Original recording remastered
• Label: Buddha
• ASIN: B0000457EU
• Also Available in: Vinyl  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #54,825 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com essential recording

This 1974 RCA release, newly reissued in 2000 by Buddha Records, was something of a transitional album for Waylon Jennings. The initial recording session, which produced the hit "I'm a Ramblin' Man," was coproduced by Jennings and Ray Pennington and featured a Nashville studio band complete with chirping backup singers. The rest of the album was coproduced by Jennings and fellow Outlaw Tompall Glaser and featured the singer's own road band with longtime drummer Richie Albright and steel-guitar great Ralph Mooney. The hits included "Rainy Day Woman" and "Amanda," which became a No. 1 single in 1979, five years after the album's release. But the best tracks--including a cover of Rex Griffin's "The Last Letter" not found on the original release--anticipate the austere, heartfelt approach Jennings would take when he returned to the studio the following year to paint his masterpiece, Dreaming My Dreams. --Rick Mitchell

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Another good one, February 18, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Ramblin Man (Audio CD)

Another good Waylon Jennings album - made in Waylon's height of his popularity. This one is a good one, not as good as Dreaming My Dreams or Honkytonk Heroes...but still excellent. Memories of You and I is absolutely fantastic - as are Waylon's version of Midnight Rider and the song "The Hunger". Great record, they need to keep re-issuing his old stuff.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Another good'un from Ol' Waylon!, December 10, 2002

By 

Casey Newbold - Kerr (Melbourne, Australia.) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Ramblin Man (Audio CD)

"The Ramblin' Man," pre-"Dreaming My Dreams" and post-"This Time," is an album that shows Waylon in both rockin' (title track, "Rainy Day Woman," "Midnight Rider," "Memories Of You And I") and more tender modes ("The Hunger," "Amanda"). It's an album that was perhaps a sign of things to come -- "Dreaming My Dreams" -- with a few tender ballads mixed with more uptempo numbers. Waylon could rock with the best of them, but he was also as good with a ballad as anyone you could ever hope to find. Put simply, he was extremely versatile.

"The Ramblin' Man" has a number of outstanding cuts in the title track, "Rainy Day Woman," "The Hunger," "Memories Of You And I," "Amanda," and my personal favourite, "Midnight Rider." This album really doesn't have any "filler" -- just prime Waylon.

Musically, Waylon plays plenty of lead guitar. He really smokes on "Rainy Day Woman" and "Midnight Rider," and he plays very tastefully on "Cloudy Days" and "Amanda." This album contains some classic Waylon guitar moments -- things that the students of his guitar style can learn a great deal from. It also features what is, I believe, the first recorded evidencee of Waylon's use of the phase shifter, the guitar effect that would shape his guitar tone later on. Vocally Waylon is, of course, stunning on this album.

"The Ramblin' Man" is another essential album. It captures that unique "Waylon sound" that Waylon became so well-known for. On this album you'll hear that sound becoming more and more like the sound that would dominate his later albums. Maybe it's not considered on-par with "Honky Tonk Heroes" or "Dreaming My Dreams" by many, but it is still a damn fine example of Ol' Waylon's incredible musical talent, and it's better than the so-called "country" that is out there today.

Meaninful songs played and sung by a man who could make you feel them. 5 stars.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Another Perfect WJ Album, April 3, 2007

By 

John W. Rethamel (Lansing, MI) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Ramblin Man (Audio CD)

One of Waylon's two great albums from 1974. This is easily one of my favorite of Waylon's studio efforts from his '70s peak. Although it doesn't sound all that much different from his other albums of this period, it is still a fantastic album with top-notch songs. I highly recommend this album for mellow evenings, poker nights or just plain relaxing.

Best Songs:

"I'm A Ramblin' Man"

"Rainy Day Woman"

"Midnight Rider"

"The Hunger"

"Amanda"