Product Description

After working his atmospheric magic on Bob Dylan (TIME OUT OF MIND) and Emmylou Harris (WRECKING BALL), producer DanielLanois takes on another American original: Willie Nelson. The result is an album that's at once timeless and up-to-the minute. Lanois brings Willie's instantly recognisable voice front and centre, but underscores his acoustic guitar picking with complex percussion and drums, as well as organ and harmonica. The Lanois-written "The Maker" is the most fleshed-out instrumentally, and sounds like an outtake from Harris' WRECKING BALL. Harris herself appears on 11 of the 14 songs,handling the difficult task of singing harmony with Willie's distinctive around-the-beat style phrasing.
Half the songs were written by Willie in the sixties, when his career was on the rise but his personal life was in ruins. The material is almost uniformly despairing, with titles like "I've Just Destroyed The World" and "Darkness on the Face of the Earth". The newer songs, like "Everywhere I Go", have a Spanish lilt, perhaps reflecting the fact that the album was recorded in a converted California theatre that once specialised in Mexican movies. While TEATRO may be case of teaching an old dog new tricks, Willie's certainly an apt pupil.

Track Listing

1. Ou Es-Tu Mon Amour
2. Where Are You My Love
3. I Never Cared For You
4. Everywhere I Go
5. Darkness On The Face Of The Earth
6. My Own Peculiar Way
7. These Lonely Nights
8. Home Motel
9. Maker
10. I Just Can't Let You Say Good-bye
11. I've Just Destroyed The World
12. Somebody Pick Up My Pieces
13. Three Days
14. I've Loved You All Over The World
15. Annie

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #96216 in Music
• Released on: 1999-12-23
• Number of discs: 1
• Format: Import

Customer Reviews

A little different
In many ways, this is a typical Willie Nelson album but the music here is a little different. For this album, Willie acquired the services of Daniel Lanois as producer. He had revitalized Emmylou's career by producing her 1995 album, Wrecking ball. Emmylou, who has recorded several duets down the years with Willie, provides backing vocals on several tracks here, most prominently on Everywhere I go. The credits show that many of the tracks feature Bobbie Nelson on Wurlitzer. Maybe this is what makes the biggest difference in the sound. There are other unusual instruments on some tracks such as congas, vibraphone and omnichord.

The album begins with an instrumental cover of a French song and closes with another instrumental. Between them are twelve excellent songs, some from Willie's own back-catalog and some new, plus a couple of songs written by others - one of them (The maker) by the producer.

If you wish to compare the difference in sound compared to earlier Willie Nelson albums, listen to My own peculiar way. Willie wrote this song in the sixties and has recorded it a few times since. Several other oldies are included, both of which Willie also wrote or co-wrote in the sixties, these being I never cared for you, Darkness on the face of the earth Home Motel, I just can't let you say goodbye, I've just destroyed the world and Three days.

Overall, this is a very relaxing album on which Willie's voice is great despite his age (he was in his sixties when he recorded this album). When I first played it, I wasn't sure about it but I have since come to recognize its brilliance.