Willie Nelson Album: “Red Headed Stranger [Remaster]”

It takes so many words just to describe this album, how can I give it justice in a review? I suppose to start with saying that music rarely elicits emotion from me. I tend to decide what I like merely by how something sounds on the surface, and with today's music, there isn't much else to go on. Well, on Red Headed Stranger, there is plenty of inherent emotion in every note.

The title song always pains me to hear, especially the moment that the rest of the song foreshadows so well. And when "they dance with smiles on their faces" in "Denver," I want to burst with happiness for our hero. "Hands on the Wheel" is one of the most beautiful love songs I have ever heard.

This story of betrayal, murder, and redemption through re-found love is full of nuance and little touches that are perfect. Nelson uses his voice as another instrument, never taking center stage but always blending in with the minimal guitar and backing, finally letting the piano express its pure joy on "Down Yonder."

These songs, almost all of which were written by different people, come together in an amazingly cohesive package. These choices show an inherent knowledge of storytelling--with its peaks and valleys--that carries throughout the arrangement of the album.

This is one of the great concept albums, and one of the great albums in general, of all time. It belongs in any music fan's library. I am not a country music fan, but I love what has been done with this album. It is a tight, well-told story, told in an inimitable fashion.

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.

When this album came out I remember Chet Flippo wrote in Rolling Stone: "I can't recall when an album has had such a hold over me." And it was this way with many other listeners: I remember playing it over and over, mesmerized by its story and music. With cinematic ease, the songs drift by and grab you with their simplicity and power: "Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain," and "Red Headed Stranger" are moving and violent. "Denver" and "O'er the Waves" take us through the Western dance halls as our hero seeks peace. At the end of "Red Headed Stranger" the hero's journey takes a mystical turn toward redemption. The final few cuts of the newly remastered CD gives us a little more Willie: "Bach Minuet in G," a snippet from the flip side of the 1986 single "Living in the Promiseland" that also appeared in the "Red Headed Stranger" movie and versions of classic tunes by Hank Williams, Pee Wee King and Bob Wills. The new additions take us back out of the cosmos where Willie left us on the old LP ... great extras to a classic album. Along with 1975's "Tonight's the Night" by Neil Young, Springsteen's "Born to Run" and "Blood on the Tracks" by Bob Dylan, this album had quite a hold over me too.

I think Willie is a great singer but he has never been a personal favorite. This album, though, is among my favorites. In it, he demonstrates his skills as a lyricist, he mellow voice and his ability to narrate a song.

Much of this work sound like it could come right from out of the old west. This differentiates it from much of country music which is simply rural but modern. There are exception but the feeling of timelessness. These tunes and songs have a "classic" style. They are wonderful.

This is an old album. I used to have the 8 track. It is still worth it.

Of all the music in my collection (vinyl, 8track, cassette, CD, MP3, etc) this is the very best! RHS transcends country, rock, jazz, or gospel in my humble opinion. In the past few years, Willie has sped through his classic songs (I guess that I would be tired of them as well...), but this is a wonderful example of his unique talent for singing as well as his masterful ways around his "hole in the wall" Martin when they were burning a hole in his soul. Not to knock him live on the stage with family and friends. Willie is da man...