Kris Kristofferson Album: “Very Best of Kris Kristofferson [Monument]”

All 23 of these tracks were written or co-written by Kristofferson with the exception of Hello In There, Help Me, Put It Off Until Tomorrow and We Must Have Been Out Of Our Minds. The numerous cover versions of this formidable artist's songs are more familiar than his own. Classics like Sunday Morning Coming Down, For The Good Times and Help Me Make It Through The Night demonstrate his unique compositional talent and ability to capture universal feelings and moods. This compilation is rather unusual as it omits well-known numbers like The Best Of All Possible Worlds, Casey's Last Ride & Darby's Castle in favor of earlier compositions and duets with Dolly Parton & Joan Baez.

Cover versions of Jody and the Kid hit the charts 1968 and From the Bottle to the Bottom in 1969. That same year Roger Miller took Me and Bobby McGee into the country charts whilst

scored both a pop & country hit with Sunday Mornin' Comin' Down. In 1970 Ray Price achieved the same with For The Good Times. The following year

powerful rendition of Me & Bobby McGee reached number one whilst Gordon Lightfoot's flowing

also made the charts. Help Me Make It Through the Night remains one of the most covered songs of all time; this includes an atmospheric interpretation by Gladys Knight & The Pips.

The gospel song Why Me was probably Kristofferson's greatest hit as it stayed on the Billboard Hot Hundred for months round about 1973/1974. His collaborations with

contribute Please Don't Tell Me How The Story Ends, I'd Rather Be Sorry and We Must Have Been Out Of Our Minds, the last two from

. The duet with Dolly Parton comes from the album

by Willie Nelson, Dolly Parton, Kris Kristofferson & Brenda Lee, plus there's a moving live duet with Joan Baez, a

song titled Hello In There that reminds me of Leonard Cohen's

is a more conventional compilation of the work of this great composer who's considered a country singer but sounds more like a singer-songwriter in the Bob Dylan and James Taylor mould. Whatever his personal style, his timeless songs transcend all musical boundaries as they appear in a plethora of pop, rock, soul, gospel, classical, jazz, blues, latin, R&B, electronic & other interpretations. This collection deserves five stars for offering some obscure gems and on account of the duets with the aforementioned female vocalists.