Poor examples of Billy Joe's recordings
A photographer | Planet Earth | 10/17/2005
(2 out of 5 stars)
"I discovered Billy Joe Shaver back in the 80's and I've loved him ever since. His early recordings are classic and his current recordings maintain a consistently high quality. He is the original "Honky Tonk Hero", a Texas legend and rightly praised as one of the finest folk poets of the 20th Century.
Yeah, he is that good.
That said, these recordings should never have been resurrected. They were made for Capricorn Records in the 80's just before the company went belly up. This CD comprises the two albums Billy Joe recorded for the company plus both sides of a single and one unreleased recording. In the first album, he takes on the persona of the 80's sensitive singer/songwriter (it doesn't fit and it shows). He sounds as if he is dozing off while recording the album. On the second album, his performances are better but the recording is torpedoed by Billy Joe singing songs by other people. How ridiculous that sounds today! The songs from the single, "Lately I've Been Leaning Toward the Blues" and "I Couldn't Be Me Without You", are a notch or two above the two albums. The unreleased recording "Music City USA" is on a par with the songs from the single.
This is an embarassing CD. It would have been better if these recordings were never unearthed. As historical document, perhaps they are worthwhile to the completist. For me, the only interesting thing about the CD, other than the three songs at the end, was the booklet. It has a couple of photographs of Billy Joe with his then 12-year old son Eddie, who played guitar on some of the songs recorded. At 12, Eddie looked like a miniature version of himself as he looked in his 30's--black jacket, long hair and a permanent pout."
A Terrific CD!
jms63 | San Antonio, TX United States | 12/22/2001
(5 out of 5 stars)
"I have to disagree with those who found this CD lacking. I think it's a blast to listen to, from first track to last. It has quickly become a standard item in my car's CD changer. Waylon Jennings and Willie Nelson are, obviously, two first-rate, gold-plated country stars...Billy Joe Shaver is absolutely fantastic in both singing and songwriting...and I gotta say I dig Kris Kristofferson's froggy voice. If I could, I'd give this CD more than just 5 stars!!!"