Customer Reviews

Willie Nelson Sings Kristofferson

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I love the content of this CD, but I must say the remastering job is the pits. It starts off okay, but about halfway through it starts to sound muffled. My favorite song, "Loving Her Was Easier", has no high frequency content at all. I've heard this album on LP, and sad to say, the LP sounded better. And be forewarned: "Loving Her Was Easier" also sounds lousy on the 3-disc set "Revolutions of Time." It sounds as if they just lifted it from this CD. Shame on you, Legacy!

To correct another review-- this record was originally released in 1979-- many years before Willie's tax problems with the IRS. I don't understand why so many people want to bad mouth Willie-- who hasn't exactly been commerical-- even when he was popular. He has created his own sound and has spent his long career exploring it.

On that note, this album was probably recorded because Nelson and Kristofferson are friends and Willie had already covered quite a few of his tracks. Whatever the reason-- this is a spectacular record. Willie's version of Sunday Morning Coming Down is my favorite-- as is his version of Help Me Make It Through The Night-- which is worth the price of the album. Standouts also include Me and Bobby McGee and Loving Her Was easier Than Anything I'll Ever Do Again. Willie brings his own flavor to the classic songs. This is his 70s musical style that will be familiar to fans of Honeysuckle Rose and Red Headed Stranger. His regular band backs him up beautifully. There isn't a bad song on here.

Too bad about the CD quality! They should reissue this along with another forgotten classic Without A Song!

A gem of an album - possibly the most bittersweet album in country music. Sunday Morning Coming Down is just one highlight of a recording that is just dead solid all the way through. The last time I saw Willie, at Stubb's here in Austin, he played an amazing four songs from this album - proof enough that he realizes what a great fit his voice is with these lyrics. Get this one - it's a keeper.

Throughout his career Willie has had great success doing both his own material as well as interpreting the cream of other songwriters efforts. And no doubt about it, when Willie does a song the interpretation may be many things, but it will certainly be unique. Such is the case here. He takes the absolute best songs of Kristofferson's catalog (through 1979) and makes them his own. Just listen to the intro to the first track. Is there any doubt at all who is the artist here? Is it one of Willie's best efforts? In the context of his prolific body of work, probably not. Is it the best single artist collection of Kristofferson's writing in one place? Probably. Sure, Ray Price's is the definative "For The Good Times". Ditto for Johnny Cash's "Sunday Morning...", and who could ever forget Janis' version of "Me & Bobby McGee"? Artists from Sinatra to Al Green to Lawrence Welk to Dizzy Gillespie to 450+ others at last count have covered Kris' songs, mostly drawing from the same nine songs presented here. But these versions make them sound like they were written just for Willie and his sparse band. It would have been nice to also include "One Day At A Time" (co-written with Marijohn Wilkin) or one of the Kristofferson-Silverstein collaborations. The best of those, "Once More With Feeling" had already been re-released several times in compilations by RCA after Willie jumped to Columbia, so it's understandable why it didn't appear here.

Obviously recorded/mastered on analog equipment before Jimmy Bowen forced modern (for then) production values down Nashville's bean-counters' throats, the audio suffers a bit. Drums sound horrible with no high end, but vocals and most other instruments are ok. "Trigger" has a mellow sound because Willie wants it that way, or he wouldn't use nylon strings. The electric guitar sound falls victim to dated effects pedals on some, but not all, tracks. Columbia could probably do better now, but this album was issued on CD before the digital remix/remaster craze of the early-mid 90's when the technology really took off. Based on the quality/condition of the original analog masters, and lack of demand for an upgrade, this may be as good as we can hope for. And it's better than most of what came out of Nashville in 1979.

I love this album and on vinyl the sound is OK. But the cd sounds like it's made from third generation cassete. What a huge dissapointment. There is no way this disc is made from the original tapes. Don't buy this disc unless a remastered version comes out.

What a combination--Kris Kristofferson and Willie Nelson!!!

Product well packaged and received in a timely manner. Very good condition.

I've got a couple Willie Albums . . . really good ones too, but this'n is my favoite. I concur, the version on this album of Sunday Morning Coming Down is better than Kris' or Johnny's. To boot, the love-ballads are the best, rugged-man blues (thanks to Kris) and Willie does them great. He sounds like he feels it more than most (and I don't doubt it).

Country and popular songs are not written or performed any better than this. One of our greatest songwriters interpreted by one of our greatest performers, and Willie manages to make them Willie Nelson songs also.
Kris even lends background vocals to a few tunes. Recommended for Willie fans, Kris fans, and any fans of American music. This is one of those albums that transcends genre and labels. Apparently this CD was out of print for a while, but it"s back and available at a bargain price. Standouts: "Me And Bobby McGee", "The Pilgrim: Chapter 33", "You Show Me Yours (And I'll Show You Mine)".

Another reviewer mentioned popping this music in during a long commute home, and I can't think of a better soundtrack to a drive. Kristofferson's lyrics are warm hearted fun, and Willie's gravel-honey voice is the perfect venue to carry them off.

Kristofferson is, in my opinion, the best song writer out there. Willie can sing with so much passion and emotion, yet at times he has the mischevious sound, on what he does. This combination is FANTASTIC!!! I recommend this combination to anyone, familiar with the 70's and 80's, who like both artist.

JAREGO