It's Johnny Cash meets Bob Dylan meets Willie Nelson! If you like any of those guys you'll love Kris. I suggest you buy this one first, it is the overall best of his work. But "Super Hits" and "Best Of" each have great tracks that aren't on this one. I recommend all three...they are inexpensive, and once you get into Kris you'll be hooked, believe me.
I have worn out my vinyl copy of this recording; but thank heavens the CD is indestructible. Maybe 15-20 years since I first heard them, the songs Kristofferson wrote send chills down my spine. Has ANYONE ever caught the emptiness of the down-and-out better than 'Sunday Morning Coming Down' ? Listen to him turn a phrase like "wiping out the traces of the people and the places I have been" and tell me who writes more gracefully with less effort. What song has ever captured bar-room lust better than 'you show me yours', or with more irony than 'Silver-tongued Devil' ?
Folk/country lost a real talent when KK decided to pursue an acting career and leave songwriting behind. His later efforts simply don't compare with his early works. But that work is good enough to land him in my singer/songwriters' pantheon right alongside Townes van Zandt, John Prine, and early Dylan.
This disk makes--and on some days, it would TOP-- my top ten 'desert island disks' list.
Kris Kristofferson's main success was as the composer of the song, "Me and Bobby McGee." He has acted in some movies and toured in areas that strongly support country music. I truly do not know the last time he has been in Minnesota. The Kristofferson concert that I had a ticket for was rescheduled, then canceled for some reason, or no reason at all, if the songs on this album are any indication of how likely old Kris is to show up and put on a show. It is still possible to buy LIVE AT THE PHILHARMONIC, an album with the out-a-line song "Out of Mind, Out of Sight" about bombing in Birmingham, a CD which is funnier than this one, with a comic version of a famous song about an Okie who ain't never heard of pigeon woo, ("cause we get drunk like God wants us to do") that is definitely not on this CD. Compared to that, this selection could have been called Serious Songs of Kristofferson.
"The Silver-Tongued Devil" is still cute, in its way, and exhibits a split personality which is close to humor. "Don't believe him, he's a devil, he's everything that I ain't" hits pretty close to home for a serious album, and that is the first selection.
"Loving Her Was Easier (than anything I'll ever do again)" is a beautiful song that gets lush treatment, with a flute, violins and a background vocals that seem to go with "the feeling of her fingers on my skin." The song, "Help Me Make It Through the Night," is based more on a mix of guitars, but maintains a romantic feel.
"Sunday Mornin' Comin' Down" is the song in which the album again begins to lose its dignity, as he searches through his closet for his cleanest dirty shirt. "You Show Me Yours (and I'll show you mine)" is in a "You're feeling salty" mood. "The Pilgim: Chapter 33 (Hang In, Hopper)" makes you wonder how some of these singer-songwriter types last so long in whatever states they keep finding themselves in, "wondering if the going up was worth the coming down." A few songs later, "Why Me" is facing Jesus with the question, "What did I ever do that was worth loving you, or the kindness you've shown?" Having sung things so low, the "Help me, Jesus, my soul's in your hand," makes sense in a way that only Kris, with a background chorus, some great guitar picking, and the sense that music implies, can.
In the final song, "all the cards are on the table" in "the only game in town. And the pain, it doesn't matter." The advice: "keep your hands above the table, and your back against the wall" might even have some moral application. This is a spiritual album with performances from 1972, 1975, 1976, and 1977, quite a while ago, but considered worthy of a CD in 1988, when people finally wanted to put their money into music that was in a form that might last forever, however soon anyone might be departing this life individually. This was a good choice. These are the keepers.
