Stars And Guitars - Willie Nelson

Advantages: Willie's sweet voice and stinging guitar
Disadvantages: It's not twice as long

...The music: clean, uncluttered introspective. The songs: conveying the stark, sere, loneness of the singer. It's been called "blue collar blues" and I'd call it that, too, more than I'd call it country music. Only three of the songs are new, written in the 1990s, the rest are refashioned from the 1960s, and the 30 years in between scarcely matter. The songs were chosen and pieced together to tell the story of obssessive love or convey the concept of domestic abuse, whichever way you want to see it. And they do succeed in working together. They succeed in taking hold of your heart and grabbing onto it hard. Somehow, in Willie Nelson's mature voice, the older songs take on a new edge and freshness. Emmy Lou Harris's background voice deepens the poignancy and works sweetly with Willie's. Hers is the ghostly voice of the victim and... Read review

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Advantages: Glorious music, sounds like nothing else in the world.
Disadvantages: Too much narrating; not long enough.

...where the inspiration for Kid A’s “How to Disappear” orchestra part came from. Opener “Melody” starts with a simple combination of guitar, bass and drums, with Gainsbourg narrating. In truth the narrating spoils it: all you want to do is listen to the music. The guitar and bass parts are amazing; they cover an astonishing variety of tones and textures, and they are both (cursed word!) “melodic”, and incredibly detailed. The song builds to a huge orchestral climax. But never on this album is the orchestra part obtrusive. It’s always light and floaty, soaring over the rest of the music, and compliments it perfectly. “Ballade de Melody Nelson” follows. This is a beautiful track, with a lovely finger-picked acoustic guitar and a gorgeous chord progression. The same goes for “... Read review

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Advantages: None
Disadvantages: It's very very poor

..., but any blues fan will know what I mean. This just sounds cold, calculated, unfeeling. It's boring to the 'n'th degree. I love Willie Nelson's voice. I'm not a typical country fan , but when someone has as unique a vocal as say Willie Nelson, Hank Williams, or Johnny Cash then I'll always give them a listen... till now. What's worse is the track listing on the album is a full of absolute gems from years gone by - including such staples as Georgia On My Mind, Stardust, Caldonia, Basin Street Blues. Each of these, and the rest of the songs on the album, should sound amazing if these guys were both on top form, but the versions are highly recommended as a cure for insomnia, they're just lacking that 'oomph' to get them out of first gear. Overall, possibly the most disappointing album I've ever bought. Sadly I can't give it a zero star... Read review

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