New Then, New Again
Willie Nelson
One Hell of a Ride
Columbia/Legacy
originally published April 23, 2008
As of yet, Van Morrison has no box set to his credit. To many, Neil Young is one of the most fundamental living singer/songwriters, yet is also box set-less. Willie Nelson’s crimson visage, however, has graced a multitude of boxes over the years. The four-disc One Hell of a Ride, though, is the most comprehensive and soundly structured thus far, covering the Nelson catalog from its suave, suited Nashville beginnings to more recent work.
Neither Nelson nor his most fervent supporters could’ve envisioned the winding, influential path the preeminent outlaw singer/songwriter’s career has taken. Leading off with the sparse first single “When I’ve Sung My Last Hillbilly Song,” an updated version of which closes the set’s fourth disc, Nelson’s craftsmanlike approach to country music steadily builds itself up and grows broader throughout the first disc.
He’s already lambasting the music industry by track nine, “Mr. Record Man," a sentiment that reoccurs throughout the set, particularly on the line-drawing “Write Your Own Songs.” By the time the first disc is through, Nelson has progressed from weepy singles like “Crazy” and “Hello Walls” to the virgin country concept album/song cycle territory of Me & Paul, the album on which Nelson began to fit his own distinct persona to country music’s image rather than the other way around.
Discs two and three cover Nelson’s return to his beloved Texas and the subsequent “outlaw” years. Thus, it provides a great deal of the set’s real meat and potatoes. Duets with partners from Waylon Jennings and Ray Price to Ray Charles and Leon Russell are intermixed with solo cuts, a wise departure from the solo/duet split format of 1995’s Revolutions of Time box. A few inclusions from Nelson’s two-album stint at Atlantic often omitted from compilations (“Shotgun Willie” and “Bloody Mary Morning”) thankfully make the list this time around as do old favorites like “Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain,” “Whiskey River” and “Old Friends,” Nelson’s tear-jerking duet with longtime cohort Roger Miller.
Disc four is, really, the component that sets One Hell of a Ride apart from its boxed predecessors. Though it scrambles to summarize Nelson’s output from the early 1980s up to the present, it includes many tracks that are either already out of print on album or are from Willie’s scattered post-year 2000 releases. The pair of Paul Simon’s “Graceland” and “Still Is Still Moving” are most welcome additions, as the Spirit and Across the Borderline albums from which they came remain rare finds.
In all, these four heaping helpings of ol’ Willie don’t betray the set’s title. It’s indeed "one hell of a ride," if not a puzzlingly chartered one. For example, little of the classic Red Headed Stranger is picked from, while two Faron Young duets are in as are several from the Willie and Family: Live album, much of which has since become the tattooed blueprint of Nelson’s medley-laden live show. Still, quality reigns as justly as quantity here. You’ll smile; you’ll cry. You’ll drink a straight shooter and, at some point, probably make the living room smell like a reggae festival. This is Willie World, after all - always an inviting, if not ever-expansive, destination to explore.
Danny Kortchmar
Kootch
Wounded Bird
originally published April 23, 2008
Though session guitarist Danny Kortchmar is a native New Yorker, some of his most lasting contributions have been to the 1970s California sound personified by running partners like James Taylor and Jackson Browne. No wonder, then, that Kortchmar’s 1973 solo release Kootch (also the nickname that’s long accompanied Kortchmar) resembled a hodgepodge of the different styles floating ‘round the hill and desert studio country at the time.
Kortchmar’s approach is stylistically similar to another eclectic Californian guitarist - David Lindley. On Kootch’s nine tracks, Kortchmar mixes honking soul horns with big beach drums (“Put Your Dancin’ Shoes On”), puts in some enjoyable organ-driven rave-ups (“Up Jumped the Devil”) and reveals himself as both a proficient, if not inventive, bandleader and vocalist. There are few dry moments here, and, as one of only two solo albums in the Kortchmar catalog, it goes a long way in informing us as to what made this often-silent partner such an in-demand hired hand.
Margie Joseph
Margie Joseph
Collector’s Choice
originally published April 23, 2008
Buttery-sweet soul crooner Margie Joseph is yet another voice from Atlantic Records’ massive R&B roster to go largely unnoticed since the label’s shift in attention to heavy and popular rock releases. A thorough reissue campaign of Joseph’s material by indie repackagers Collector’s Choice is doing much to change that.
The six-album campaign covers Atlantic releases from 1973 to 1984, but it’s Joseph’s ‘73 self-titled Atlantic debut that really stands out. A stellar cast of session players, including longtime Ray Charles saxman David “Fathead” Newman and hard-hitting blues guitarist Cornell Dupree, supports Joseph’s resounding vocals. The song selection is topnotch as well, highlighted by sultry, uplifting takes on Dolly Parton’s “Touch Your Woman” and "Why Don’t We Go Somewhere,” later popularized by Kenny Rogers. In short, if you salivate over vintage soul records á la Aretha and the good Rev. Green, you can’t make a misstep with Ms. Joseph and this tightly arranged soul workout from the bottom-heavy era that Atlantic built but has yet to, themselves, reissue in bulk.
The Kingston Trio
Once Upon a Time; Twice Upon a Time
Collector’s Choice
originally published April 23, 2008
Anyone who’s seen A Mighty Wind ought to know that most stereotypical folk groups of the ‘60s weren’t known especially for their humor. On these two live releases, though, The Kingston Trio (the inspirational basis for …Wind’s central threesome The Folksmen) not only do it up dry, but actually coax out plenty of laughter in the process. Both Once Upon a Time (originally a double album) and Twice Upon a Time (a set previously unreleased till now) were recorded at Vegas nightspot the Sahara Tahoe during the late ‘60s.
Not exactly the type of venue you would expect to find three banjo-toting folk sticklers who sang of train wrecks and Union strife. However, Kingstoners John Stewart (no, not of Daily Show fame), Nick Reynolds and Bob Shane put the proverbial pedal down to the casino stage floor with hard-driving renditions of such Trio standards as “M.T.A.,” “Roving Gambler,” “Greenback Dollar” and many more.
The similar song selection that dots both albums isn’t reason enough to purchase the pair, but the acid-era banter and comic interludes are another story. Some of Stewart’s pop culture references are dated, but where else are you going to find the folk posterboys of that day directing an onstage rib to audience member Don Rickles? Good luck finding a repeat performance of that on iTunes.
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