Willie Nelson - Red Headed Stranger
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Free Music Notes for Red Headed Stranger
Free Music Review: The western album of the century
Hit: 5 Stars
The Red Headed Stranger
I obtained this CD almost as a consolation prize after failing to buy the movie by the same name. However, it turns out that this album may be the greatest western CD of all times. Now I am not qualified to comment on the quality of the music only to say I enjoyed it very much. On the other hand the lyrics are outstanding and tells a story of love, tragedy, recession into the deep dark depths of mankind, a gradual climb out of such a hole and a new love. Some example lyrics follow.
Track 4: Medley - Blue Rock Montana/Red Headed Stranger.
"The red-headed stranger,from Blue Rock, Montana
"Rode into town one day."
"And under his knees was a ragin' black stallion,
"And walking behind was the bay."
"The red-headed stranger had eyes like the thunder,
"And his lips, they were sad and tight.
"Don't cross him, don't boss him.
"He's wild in his sorrow."
"He's ridin' and hidin' his pain."
"Don't fight him, don't spite him;
"Just wait til tomorrow,
"Maybe he'll ride on again.
"The Yellow-Headed Lady was buried at sunset;
"the stranger went free of course."
"For you can't hang a man for killin' a woman
"who's trying to steal his horse."
Track 5: Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain.
"Someday when we meet up yonder
"we'll stroll hand and hand again
"In the land that knows no parting
"Blue eyes crying in the rain."
Track 12: Can I Sleep In Your Arms?
"Can I sleep in your arms, tonight, Lady?"
"Its so cold lying here all alone."
"An' I have no hold to hold on you."
"An' I assure you I'll do you no wrong."
Track 13: Remember Me.
"You told me once you were mine alone forever
"And I was yours till the end of eternity
"But all those vows are broken now and I will never
"Be the same except in memory."
Track 14: Hands on the Wheel (These are similar lyrics to Track 10).
An' in the shade of an oak down by the river,
Sit an old man an' a boy,
Settin' sail, spinnin' tales, an' fishin' for whales,
With a lady they both enjoy."
See also my review of the movie where I offer a much more detailed integration of such lyrics and the movie story.
Free Music Review: Eyewitness to History in the Making
Hit: 5 Stars
Before I went to see Willie at the Longhorn ballroom in Dallas In 1975 for the 1st time I didn't know what I was in for. I felt out of place with long hair but no one was really paying attention. I still felt uncomfortable because this was the kind of place that back in the '60s if you didn't have a gun or knife they would give you one. Besides that I was only 17 using a friends ID. Before the show I had the Liberty of meeting Bill Mack (a legendary disk jockey whom wrote 'Blue' that Lee Ann Rhymes recorded). Little did I know that about a month before that great experience, in Garland TX on forest Ln. where I worked in a garage next to a recording studio that looked more like a small red wood beauty shop or something. Anyway one night while closing up I seen a customized Dodge Van pull up and some guys get out and go in, not even knowing what Willie looked like at the time and did not even know that that building was a recording studio. Well as usual I finished up and went on home. The next morning as I arrived to open the shop ,there they were loading back up into the Van and leaving. I was clueless about the situation until I read the small print on the Red Headed Stranger album about where it was recorded. If I would have had any idea I would have tried to listen in or something. But that's one of those experiences that you can only talk about and not worry about who believe's it or not. and just my luck later that year I went to Las Vegas to the Golden Nugget and he had just been there the night before.By the way the drinking age was 18 then! I was also lucky enough to see his last fourth of July concert in Waco in 1987 before I was paralyzed in a accident. Long live Willie.Free Music Review: IT WAS THE TIME OF THE PREACHER ! (Red Headed Stranger was Willie Nelson's breakthrough album)
Hit: 5 Stars
Red Headed Stranger (1975) is the album that made Willie Nelson a superstar. It's a multiplatinum selling album that's ranked #184 on Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums Of All Time (indicating it's crossover appeal into the world of mainstream music). It's a concept album that tells a sort of uneven story about a preacher turned fugitive for killing his unfaithful wife. The songs are all done with minimal instrumentation and simple arrangements. Willie's vocal and trademark acoustic nylon-string guitar are front and center. His sister Bobbi Nelson's piano and long-time bandmember Mickey Raphael's harmonica are also prominent. With the vision of a poet, Willie sings the story of the enigmatic preacher as he drifts from the spaciousness of Blue Rock, Montana to the city lights of Denver, Colorado. The songs are balanced and attentively produced to bring out the best in the almost quiet acoustic sound. The mournful Blue Eyes Crying In The Rain was a big hit for Willie, and one of his signature songs, so it's probably the most recognizable song on the album. Time Of The Preacher, Blue Rock Montana, Denver, and Red Headed Stanger all paint vivid and thoughtful images of the old west. Eddy Arnold's I Couldn't Believe It Was True, Hank Cochran's Can I Sleep In Yor Arms, and Scotty Wiseman's Remember Me are songs that weren't actually written for this album, but still fit the story well. I would describe the music here as calm, poetic, and picturesque in an old west sort of way. It's classic Willie Nelson in a low-key and graphic setting, and it's a setting that fits Willie very well.Free Music Review: Understated Beauty
Hit: 5 Stars
To me Willie Nelson is an artist who crosses borders, transcends boundaries with no problem. I see him as beyond categorization. I used to think he was a country singer but now I know he deserves the highest praise of all and that is to be called simply a singer.Red Headed Stranger is a concept album which contains some of the most simple and beautifully written and arranged songs I believe you will ever hear from this near perfect singer. Don't be deceived by their simplicity, though. Allow yourself to fall into this album and make some time for it; don't put it on as backgound noise, but give it attention and have it as foreground MUSIC.
Willie's familiar and homely singing and percussive guitar sound are yet again at the very core of the music here but listen also for Bobbie Nelson's gospel piano at the foundation of most of these songs as well as the beautiful piano accordion which weaves itself in and out some songs here with stunning delicacy.
This remastered version of the album also SOUNDS brilliant. I don't know how the original version sounded or how it was mixed but the clarity of the mix here is superb.
The album also comes with a number of beautiful black and white photographs of Willie and band in the studio recording the album accompanied by an essay by Chet Flippo.
I have only owned this album for a few hours but the music it contains will be important to me for the rest of my life. It is that good.
Free Music Review: The state of the art of C&W, circa 1975
Hit: 5 Stars
I just about wore out my vinyl copy of this recording, and was pleased that it had been remastered and re-released this year. If you already own a copy of the original, I'm not so sure that you need this version - although if you are into this genre at all, this is a must-have album. The remastered version includes the original recording, which reviewers have already described quite well as an incredibly well-written and masterfully performed series of songs about love, loss, rage, and redemption. Highlights include the title track, an achingly beautiful 'Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain', and masterful vocals on 'I Couldn't Believe it was True' - Willie has always been one of the finest vocal stylists in the business, and sometimes, if you use your imagination, you can just see his eyes squint Eastwood-style when he sings. The new CD contains 4 additional tracks which feel a bit 'tacked on', perhaps subtracting a bit from the purity of the original, but fine tunes nonetheless. The new liner notes by Chet Flippo are a welcome bonus extra. Someone once said that it took the Carter Family three minutes with their song 'Little Moses' what it took Cecil B. DeMille three hours to do with his movie 'The Ten Commandments'. Same here - you can listen to this record and dispense with about three dozen spaghetti westerns.
A classic C&W recording, but if you already own the original, you may want to hold what you got.