Search - Willie Nelson :: Crazy: The Demo Sessions

A major historical find on a major artist

hyperbolium | Earth, USA | 03/22/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This collection of Nelson's earliest Nashville demo recordings shows just how advanced his songwriting and performing abilities had become by the time he made it to Music City. They also show very plainly why a full-on artistic collision awaited him at Liberty and RCA. These unadorned demo sessions (the first eight feature mostly Nelson and his acoustic guitar, the remaining tracks find Nelson backed by a talented and twangy collection of Nashville studio pickers) are full of Nelson's intelligent songwriting and idiosyncratic phrasing, demonstrating the difference between what Nelson wanted to say and what Nashville wanted to hear. These demos are like a snapshot taken seconds before the straightjacket was fitted on him at Liberty and the straps tightened down at RCA.Many of these songs provided material for Nelson's early albums, including "Three Days," "Undo the Right" and "Darkness of the Face of the Earth" (re-recorded for Nelson's 1962 Liberty debut "And Then I Wrote"), "Are You Sure" (re-recorded for Nelson's 1965 RCA debut, "Country Willie - His Own Songs"), and "Opportunity to Cry," "Permanently Lonely" and "Something to Think About" (re-recorded in a live setting for 1966's "Live Country Music Concert"). Several provided material for then-contemporary artists such as Ray Price and Timi Yuro ("Are You Sure"), Faron Young ("Things to Remember" "A Moment Isn't Very Long"), and of course Patsy Cline ("Crazy").This latter demo, of the iconic "Crazy," is among the album's most interesting. Nelson's phrasing, highly influenced by Sinatra and other crooners, gives hints of the style in which Cline (and her producer, Owen Bradley) would cut her most famous recording. At the same time, Nelson's own style must also be listened through to hear the hit. Comparing the demo to Cline's finished product is a valuable lesson in what each of songwriter, singer and producer add to a hit record.Even more fascinating is how much these demos reflect the sound that Nelson would eventually record once he'd broken free of Nashville's conventions. "The Local Memory" would turn up on Nelson's 1973 debut for Atlantic, "Shotgun Willie." "Opportunity to Cry" was re-recorded with Merle Haggard for 1982's "Pancho & Lefty," and "Darkness on the Face of the Earth" was featured on Nelson's 1998 release, "Teatro." Nelson's earliest catalog of songs has also provided material for contemporary artists, with recent takes of these songs by k.d. lang and Waylon Jennings ("Three Days"), Tracy Byrd and Wade Hayes ("Undo the Right"), and George Jones ("I Gotta Get Drunk").Sugar Hill's collection includes an unlisted sixteenth bonus track that itself includes three more songs, a video interview with songwriter Hank Cochran, informative historical liner notes by Steve Fishell, and song-by-song annotations. The mono sound is clean and compelling, and more than half of these tracks have never before been issued commercially.These tracks are a major find in the history of a major artist -- a must-have for any Willie Nelson fan."

Pure gold

Joe Sixpack -- Slipcue.com | ...in Middle America | 02/12/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Texas "outlaw" singer Willie Nelson has long had an uneasy relationship with Nashville. He first made his mark as a songwriter, providing Patsy Cline with her smash hit, "Crazy", and country crooner Ray Price with the immortal boozer's ballad, "Night Life." As a performer in his own right, though, Nelson's solo career was years in coming -- his now-familiar paper-thin voice and odd, off-beat phrasing were square pegs that round-hole record producers were loathe to take on. These early demo sessions, made between 1960-66, when Nelson was still fresh-faced and eager to please, were made for a publishing house rather than a record label, and lay largely forgotten until 1994, when a faintly-marked reel-to-reel tape was unearthed in a dusty vault somewhere in Music City. They reveal Willie at his rawest and most earnest, and at his darkest and most downcast. Tweaking country music's standard formulas, Nelson gave the characters in his songs more to sing about than just losing a girl and getting drunk: they also became mean drunks, hardcore lost causes who contemplated either murder or suicide, often in the same teary sentence. Some of the demos are just sketches of the songs to come, others are haunting versions of songs that would soften and smooth out over the years. It's all a treasure trove for Nelson fans: well worth picking up!"

Willie is da man!

G. W. Fox | Sharon, MA United States | 02/18/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This album is a revelation to me. I've always liked Willie Nelson, but the writing and performances on this collection of stripped down demos has convinced me of his genius. The cuts are so genuine and intimate that it feels like evesdropping. By the way, if you end up loving this album as much as I do, try Roseanne Cash's 10 Song Demo---it's as authentic, stripped down and immediate as the Willie Album."