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The Essential Willie Nelson
Willie Nelson
The Essential Willie Nelson
Genres: Country, Pop
 
  •  Track Listings (20) - Disc #1

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 togeth...  more »

     
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CD Details

All Artists: Willie Nelson
Title: The Essential Willie Nelson
Members Wishing: 0
Total Copies: 0
Label: RCA
Original Release Date: 8/1/1995
Release Date: 8/1/1995
Genres: Country, Pop
Styles: Outlaw Country, Classic Country, Dance Pop
Number of Discs: 1
SwapaCD Credits: 1
UPC: 078636659022

Synopsis

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

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CD Reviews

A sampling of core Willie Nelson music.
R. Webb | 10/09/1998
(5 out of 5 stars)

"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."
Classic Willie
Jason W. Madwell | San Antonio, Texas | 03/12/2002
(4 out of 5 stars)

"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."
Early Essential Nelson..
R. Webb | u.s.a. | 07/28/2008
(5 out of 5 stars)

"This is one of Willie Nelson's essentials,here is twenty songs from Willie's early days in Nashville, notably the R.C.A. recordings,back in the day when Nelson was known more as a songwriter than an established singer. These songs lean more on the country sound with reliable Jimmy Day on steel - featuring songs,"I Gotta Get Drunk","Yesterday's Wine","Sweet Memories","Bloody Mary Morning", and Willie covers E.T.'s,"Waltz Across Texas", there's the timeless,"Night Life","Funny How Time Slips Away". Willie is in good form on these recordings, his singing style has changed through the years , some people may not realize that Nelson is also a fine guitar player extraordinaire,he oughta be ,he's been playing the same guitar for fifty years, the one with the worn out pickguard, the worn out autographs,(the only signature I could ever read was,Lefty Frizzell.) The legend has it that Nelson's house burnt down in Texas,two things were saved ,that same ol' classic worn guitar and an ounce of weed...love that guitar. "I Gotta Get Drunk" is worth the price of admission alone on this out of print disc,and you'll hear the songs of a poet who has tasted both the bitter and the sweet in the ever-changing events of life,Willie Nelson."