The Essential Willie Nelson

Amazon.com
Willie Nelson recorded 11 albums for RCA between 1964 and 1971, but he has always discounted those recordings as victims of a Nashville industry that didn't understand what he was trying to do. Colin Escott, who put together this 1995 anthology, argues in the CD booklet that Nelson has oversimplified this period of his career. Sure, there were miscalculations as producer Chet Atkins tried to make Nelson's quirky vocal phrasing palatable to the country radio of the day, but there were also a fair number of artistic triumphs. After all, Escott points out, Nelson first recorded such classic compositions as "Bloody Mary Morning," "Me and Paul," "Funny How Time Slips Away," "The Party's Over," and "Phases, Stages, Circles, Cycles and Scenes" for RCA. Those five songs plus 15 others make up The Essential Willie Nelson, which skims the cream from that part of his career. Escott for the most part shies away from Atkins's most overproduced debacles and emphasizes the more understated sessions where Nelson did things "My Own Peculiar Way," as one song put it. --Geoffrey Himes

The Essential Willie Nelson,Willie Nelson,RCA,Country,Country & Western,Country-Pop,Dance,Nashville Sound/Countrypolitan,Outlaw Country,Pop,Traditional Country

Average customer rating: This will do--til I can buy every CD he's done Absolute must have! How sweet! The Essential Willie Nelson The Grand Old Man

The Essential Willie Nelson Willie Nelson Manufacturer: Sony ProductGroup: Music Binding: Audio CD General | Country | Styles | Music Nashville Sound | Traditional Country | Country | Styles | Music General | Traditional Country | Country | Styles | Music Outlaw & Progressive Country | Country | Styles | Music Box Sets at 30% Off | Blowout Music | Stores | Music Pop | Styles | Blowout Music | Stores | Music Country | Styles | Blowout Music | Stores | Music All Blowout Music | Blowout Music | Stores | Music More Titles at Least 25% Off | Blowout Music | Stores | Music Similar Items: The Essential Johnny Cash Stardust Red Headed Stranger 40 #1 Hits Ultimate Waylon Jennings ASIN: B00008BXK3 Release Date: 2003-04-01

Tracks:

1. Night Life
2. Hello Walls
3. Crazy
4. Funny How Time Slips Away
5. I Never Cared for You
6. The Party's Over
7. Good Times
8. Me And Paul
9. Shotgun Willie
10. Bloody Mary Morning
11. Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain
12. Good Hearted Woman (with Waylon Jennings)
13. If You've Got the Money I've Got the Time
14. Uncloudy Day
15. Mammas Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up to Be Cowboys (with Waylon Jennings)
16. Georgia on My Mind
17. Blue Skies
18. All of Me
19. Heartbreak Hotel (with Leon Russell)
20. Help Me Make It Through the Night
21. Whiskey River (live)
22. Stay a Little Longer (live)

Tracks:

1. My Heroes Have Always Been Cowboys
2. Faded Love (with Ray Price)
3. On the Road Again
4. Angel Flying Too Close to the Ground
5. Always on My Mind
6. Last Thing I Needed First Thing This Morning
7. Pancho & Lefty (with Merle Haggard)
8. To All the Girls I've Loved Before (with Julio Iglesias)
9. City of New Orleans
10. Seven Spanish Angels (with Ray Charles)
11. Forgiving You Was Easy
12. Highwayman
13. Living in the Promiseland
14. Nothing I Can Do About It Now
15. Graceland
16. Everywhere I Go (with Emmylou Harris)
17. Slow Dancing (U2 featuring Willie Nelson, Mickey Raphael on harmonica)
18. Mendocino County Line (with Lee Ann Womack)
19. One Time Too Many (with Steven Tyler and Aerosmith) (previously unreleased)

Amazon.com

With 41 tracks drawn from nine record labels, the two-disc Essential Willie Nelson is impressive in its breadth. Disc one is simply superb; it begins with 1961's "Night Life," recorded for the obscure Bellaire label, and moves on to several of Nelson's early 1960s Liberty recordings, an overlooked gem recorded for Monument in 1964 ("I Never Cared for You"), a cherry-picked selection of his RCA and Atlantic sides, and finally his mid-1970s hits for Columbia (where he found his greatest chart success, beginning, in 1975, with the No. 1 single "Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain"). Disc two, however, is hit-or-miss. Classics like "On the Road Again," "Pancho & Lefty," and "Nothing I Can Do About It Now" are offset by such lesser material as "To All The Girls I've Loved Before" (recorded with Latin pop star Julio Iglesias), the phoned-in "City of New Orleans," and the sounds-better-on-paper "Highwayman" collaboration with Johnny Cash, Kris Kristofferson, and Waylon Jennings. (Just because they all made it to No. 1 doesn't make them "essential.") Nelson's two best albums of the 1990s, Across the Borderline and Teatro, are represented by a paltry two songs. The disc ends with collaborations with U2, Lee Ann Womack, and Steven Tyler and Aerosmith (the previously unreleased "One Time Too Many"). None is particularly worthy of a best-of collection. Still, while it doesn't quite live up to its billing, the Essential Willie Nelson offers an excellent career overview of one of country music's true legends. --David Hill

Customer Reviews:

This will do--til I can buy every CD he's done.......2007-07-06

I didn't like Willie Nelson til I moved to Austin. You can't live there, hear all the good things he's done, and then listen to him and not start liking him. Someone has a problem, there's a storm, a fire--whatever, Willie's there playing and singing his heart out and getting as many of his fellow musicians out doing the same. Now, I want the whole collection because the B-sides are as good as some other folks' A's.

Absolute must have!.......2007-06-28

Great collection of Willie's best. Note though that the songs on the label of the 2nd CD are not the actual order they are recorded on the CD.

How sweet!.......2007-06-15

I am really disappointed with most of the cuts in this collection. For example, I had never heard "Pancho and Lefty" with violins and chorus. Not the Willie I want to hear.

The Essential Willie Nelson.......2007-06-08

I absolutely love this CD. If you are a Willie Nelson fan then you need to add this one to your collection

The Grand Old Man.......2007-04-18

Hard to imagine a world without Willie Nelson's music. This might be the only album you need on a desert island.

Average customer rating: Classic Willie I know this album to be one of the "greats" A sampling of core Willie Nelson music.

The Essential Willie Nelson Willie Nelson Manufacturer: RCA ProductGroup: Music Binding: Audio CD General | Country | Styles | Music Nashville Sound | Traditional Country | Country | Styles | Music General | Traditional Country | Country | Styles | Music Outlaw & Progressive Country | Country | Styles | Music General | Dance & DJ | Styles | Music General | Dance Pop | Dance & DJ | Styles | Music Similar Items: "Willie Nelson - Nite Life: Greatest Hits and Rare Tracks, 1959-1971" Red Headed Stranger The Essential Willie Nelson ASIN: B000002WTA Release Date: 1995-08-01

Tracks:

1. Me And Paul
2. Yesterday's Wine
3. December Day
4. Bloody Mary Morning
5. Healing Hands Of Time
6. Darkness On The Face Of The Earth
7. Funny How Time Slips Away
8. Family Bible
9. My Own Peculiar Way
10. Mr. Record Man - Willie Nelson W
11. I Gotta Get Drunk
12. Hello Walls
13. Sweet Memories
14. Night Life
15. Waltz Across Texas
16. The Party's Over
17. Some Other World
18. Goin' Home
19. Once More With Feeling
20. Phases, Stages, Circles, Cycles And Scenes

Amazon.com

Willie Nelson recorded 11 albums for RCA between 1964 and 1971, but he has always discounted those recordings as victims of a Nashville industry that didn't understand what he was trying to do. Colin Escott, who put together this 1995 anthology, argues in the CD booklet that Nelson has oversimplified this period of his career. Sure, there were miscalculations as producer Chet Atkins tried to make Nelson's quirky vocal phrasing palatable to the country radio of the day, but there were also a fair number of artistic triumphs. After all, Escott points out, Nelson first recorded such classic compositions as "Bloody Mary Morning," "Me and Paul," "Funny How Time Slips Away," "The Party's Over," and "Phases, Stages, Circles, Cycles and Scenes" for RCA. Those five songs plus 15 others make up The Essential Willie Nelson, which skims the cream from that part of his career. Escott for the most part shies away from Atkins's most overproduced debacles and emphasizes the more understated sessions where Nelson did things "My Own Peculiar Way," as one song put it. --Geoffrey Himes

Customer Reviews:

Classic Willie.......2002-03-12

This is a good cd but there are better Willie cds out
there (Spirit, Red Headed Stranger) for a person who is
looking for their first Willie cd. This is a great cd
for die-hard Willie fans who are looking to broaden their
collection. Compare it with Willie's more famous works and
you will see how bad Nashville was to Willie. The best
tracks on this work would be the earlier versions of songs
the are still featured in Willie's concerts or were re-done
by him later in his career (Me and Paul, Yesterday's Wine,
Bloody Mary Morning) The "Gotta Get Drunk" track is my
favorite on the disc.

I know this album to be one of the "greats".......1999-06-18

I only wish you could advise me if this CD can be obtained in CDG for Karaoke singing.

A sampling of core Willie Nelson music........1998-10-09

This album is a keeper! I took it out of the library and have renewed it and now it's overdue so I'm ordering one. There's not a dud cut on the disk. Highly recommended.

Average customer rating:

The Essential Pop Sampler Billy Joel , Frank Sinatra , Willie Nelson , Tony Bennett , Earth Wind & Fire , Santana , Miles Davis , Luther Vandross , Simon & Garfunkel , and Johnny Cash Manufacturer: Pop ProductGroup: Music Binding: Audio CD ASIN: B0009Y9KOO

Product Description

Includes: Piano Man, Saturday Night (Is The Loneliest Night in The Week), On The Road Again, The Best Is Yet To Come, That's The Way of The World, Samba Pa' Ti, So What, Here and Now, Bridge Over Troubled Water, Ring Of Fire

Average customer rating:

50 Essential Recordings ProductGroup: Music Binding: Audio CD General | Country | Styles | Music Country | Imports | Stores | Music ASIN: B000CHYHN2 Release Date: 2007-06-05

Average customer rating:

The Essential Willie Nelson Willie Nelson ProductGroup: Music Binding: Audio CD General | Country | Styles | Music Country | Imports | Stores | Music ASIN: B000EU1KGE Release Date: 2006-03-14

Average customer rating:

50 Essential Recordings ProductGroup: Music Binding: Audio CD General | Country | Styles | Music Country | Imports | Stores | Music ASIN: B000DXSC04 Release Date: 2007-06-05

Average customer rating:

50 Essential Recordings ProductGroup: Music Binding: Audio CD General | Country | Styles | Music Country | Imports | Stores | Music ASIN: B000R3VUOK Release Date: 2007-06-05

Music Album:

1. They Ain't Making Jews Like Jesus Anymore
2. Train Called Lonesome
3. Wake Up
4. What If [CD-single]
5. Wire
6. With the North Carolina Ramblers and the Highlanders [Box set] [Original recording remastered]
7. Won't Be Blue Anymore
8. #1's: The Warner Brothers Years
9. A Truly Western Experience
10. Acoustic Traveller

Music Album