Track Listing

1. Help Me Make It Through The Night
2. For The Good Times
3. Loving Her Was Easier (Than Anything I'll Ever Do Again)
4. Me And Bobby McGee
5. Nobody Wins
6. Why Me
7. Sunday Mornin' Comin' Down
8. Jody And The Kid
9. Please Don't Tell Me How The Story Ends - Kristofferson, Kris & Rita Coolidge
10. Taker
11. Stranger
12. Help Me
13. Put It Off Until Tomorrow
14. Breakdown (A Long Way From Home)
15. Hello In There
16. Pligrim Chapter 33
17. From The Bottle To The Bottom
18. Somebody Nobody Knows
19. I'd Rather Be Sorry
20. Once More With Feeling
21. We Must Have Been Out Of Our Minds
22. Come Sundown
23. Kiss The World Goodbye

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #3184 in Music
• Released on: 1999-05-31
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .20 pounds

Customer Reviews

Simply the best
Excellent. Atmospheric, true to life and moving. You won't regret buying this CD.

Outstanding songwriter sings with conviction
Kris was never blessed with a great singing voice but his voice is good enough on his own songs, which he sings with a conviction and honesty sometimes (but not always) lacking in cover versions by others. In that way, he may be compared with Bob Dylan, another outstanding songwriter with vocal limitations. As somebody who regards the human voice as the most important musical instrument of all, I cannot say that Kris is one of my favorite singers, but he has just enough to make me want to listen to his music every now and again. Perhaps it is the desperation with which he sings Help me make it through the night, or his attempt to find spiritual answers in Why me lord.

So on this compilation you will find his original recordings of songs that have become classics across several different genres of music, including pop, rock, country, soul, R+B and reggae. The most successful song of all is Help me make it through the night, which has charted for several different singers. Sammi Smith was first, selling two million copies in the USA, topping the country charts and reaching the top ten in the pop charts. John Holt, a fine reggae singer, took it high up the British charts. Another popular song, For the good times, was a country hit for Ray Price and a pop hit for Perry Como. Among the other singers who have been successful with his songs are Janis Joplin (Me and Bobby McGhee), Johnny Cash (Sunday morning coming down), Waylon Jennings (The taker) and Brenda Lee (Nobody wins), but this is by no means a complete list.

This collection features several duets on songs that (with one exception) Kris didn't write. Larry Gatlin joins Kris on Help me. Dolly Parton is featured on Put it off until tomorrow. Joan Baez joins Kris on a live version of Hello in there. Rita Coolidge, who recorded a couple of albums with Kris, is represented by three duets.

This, then, is a fine collection of music by an outstanding songwriter who, despite his vocal limitations, is worth an occasional listen.

The Very Best of Kris Kristofferson
Kris is a poet and it shows in every one of these songs. Listening to the warmth of his voice singing Loving Her Was Easier, the quiet desparation of Help Me and the pain in I'd Rather Be Sorry is a delight. I'm so glad I found this album