Waylon Jennings Album: “This Time [Remaster]”

A classic album from Waylon. No one can sing like this, and it stands to remind us how unique he really is among fellow artists. A great surprise are the tracks with Waylon and The Crickets, produced by rock and roll guitar legend Duane Eddy. I had heard about these for years, and now they finally surface. These are not alternate takes, as someone noted in an earlier review. These are the original versions, cut in 1974 at RCA studios in Hollywood. Unfortunately, the project was cut short and we are left with these five tracks, but we'll take 'em gladly. Buy this.

THIS TIME was an excellent album that pointed the way to bigger and better things for Waylon, The title tune "This Time" was the first Waylon tune to hit #1 on the Billboard Country charts ("The Taker hit #1 on the Cashbox charts in 1970). The title tune was the only chart hit on the album but "Pick Up The Tempo" and "Louisiana Woman" were part of his live show for years, and "Slow Movin' Outlaw" could have been his theme song. The five bonus cuts don't really fit the rest of the album as far as the general sound of the album, but I for one am glad to have them.

Three of the tracks are Waylon's tribute to his first producer and former boss Buddy Holly. Waylon's take on Holly's "That'll Be The Day" is very different from Holly's version in tempo and feel with Waylon having altered the lyrics slightly to make it more of a brag than the original. "It Doesn't Matter Anymore" again is a bit more resigned than Holly's recording. The third Holly track is a medley of "Well All Right" / "It's So Easy" / "Maybe Baby" / "Peggy Sue".

Great album

This is a good one. Waylon and Willie together for the first time. I don't know how I missed this one with the number of CD's I have from these two.

I know...I know - Honky Tonk Heroes is supposed to be the tour de force - the one that showcases Waylon's reign as the King of the Outlaw Movement. But for my money, I would rather spend time with the three albums that followed: THIS TIME, THE RAMBLIN' MAN, and DREAMING MY DREAMS.

On THIS TIME, Waylon finally flexes the contractual-muscle Neil Reshen helped him obtain and he records the bulk of it at Glaser Sound Studios - a/k/a Hillbilly Central, largely with his hands at the studio console. THIS TIME beautifully showcases the sides of Waylon Jennings: the romantic balladeer and the cowboy-themed outlaw - framed with loose production elements that let the music breathe.

The album opens with the Waylon's first major hit - "This Time". It went to number one on the Billboard Country Singles chart -- not too bad for a song that former producer Danny Davis rejected a few years earlier. "This Time defined what would become the Waylon sound as the '70's progressed: swirling steel guitar (thank you, Ralph Mooney), the one-two punch of Ritchie Albright's drums and Duke Goff's bass, and the exceptional lead guitar and vocals of the album's star. As good as song as "This Time" is, the album only gets better from there.

Next up is "Louisiana Woman". This song hould be the textbook example of how a good song is sometimes defined by what ISN'T in it as much as what IS. What do I mean by that? Just listen to the way the song "breathes". It's produced with such a light hand that you hear every subtle guitar lick, every drum-beat change, and every inflection in Waylon's voice.

Waylon often gets critical remarks for mining buddy Willie Nelson's PHASES & STAGES album for "Pick Up The Tempo", "It's Not Supposed To Be That Way", and "Walkin'". While PHASES holds up as a good album, I think we can easily agree that Waylon makes these songs HIS on this album. Again, it's a great exercise in the contrast between cowboy imagery and romantic balladeer.

With "Slow Rollin' Low", we again hear that "looseness" that helped create the magic that made Waylon a star. It also marks the first appearance of a Waylon & Willie "duet" - albeit without Willie's voice.

"Heaven Or Hell" - is this song really only a minute and a half long? If you discredit "Slow Rollin' Low" as the first duet with Willie (see previous paragraph), then this song surely counts.

To my ears, though - THIS TIME's showpiece is "Slow Movin' Outlaw". A sad cowboy tale about someone staring the passage of time in the face, it's beauty is the understatement of both the lyrics and the production.

The less-is-more technique shows up again in "Mona", written by Waylon's wife Jessi Colter's ex Duane Eddy.

The last song on the set is "If You Could Touch Her At All" - a song that partner in crime Willie Nelson overdubbed in 1978 for the WAYLON & WILLIE album - taking it to the top ten on the singles charts. In my opinion, Waylon's version should have been a single; He does a better job.

Interestingly, as soft as this album is - I find myself wanting to listen to it loudly.

The cream of the Waylon crop!

WHAT CAN I SAY? I HAD THIS ON 8 TRACK ALL THOSE YEARS AGO. SOUNDS MUCH BETTER TODAY, BUT THE MUSIC IS TIMELESS. I WAS A WAYLON FAN BACK WHEN HE DID "ONLY DADDY". I HIGHLY RECOMMEND THIS TO ALL WAYLON FANS. TO THE NON WAYLON FANS, YOU'RE JUST ONE PURCHASE AWAY FROM BECOMING ONE. EXTRA TRACKS ARE A REAL PLUS, TOO. GREAT MUSIC FROM A REAL TEXAS REBEL WITH A CAUSE.