Best Of Willie Nelson CD

Includes liner notes by Ed Ward.
Liner Note Author: Ed Ward .
Illustrator: Peter Palombi.
Photographers: John Van Hamersveld; Jim Marshall .
Unknown Contributor Role: Willie Nelson.
Willie Nelson wasn't at Liberty Records for much longer than a couple of cups of coffee, but he did record some great material for the label, including "Funny How Time Slips Away," "Hello Walls," "Crazy," and "Mr. Record Man." This set includes all of these, plus a handful of others from the early portion of Nelson's career, and it makes for a fine introduction to the songwriting side of Nelson, since some of the best songs he ever wrote are here. ~ Steve Leggett
Willie Nelson didn't spend much time at Liberty Records, but he did record some of his best early material for the label, including his takes on "Funny How Time Slips Away," "Hello Walls," "Crazy," and "Mr. Record Man." The 1973 collection The Best of Willie Nelson offers those four along with nine other well-chosen songs, resulting in a nice summary of the first major phase of Willie's career. Other collections of the Liberty material have been more comprehensive, but this remains the best, most concise overview of those early recordings. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine
After several frustrating years trying to get a hit record of his own, C&W songwriter Willie Nelson signed with the Los Angeles-based Liberty record label in 1965. It was the failure of this last-ditch attempt at suit-and-tie slickness that eventually led him to chuck it all and go "outlaw" on the great FACE OF A FIGHTER, recorded some years later. Still, Nelson is one of the greatest of all country singers, and the smooth Nashville production (complete with the Anita Kerr Singers) serves as a pleasingly effective backdrop for his gentle yet tough Texas vocal style.
In 1961 Jimmy Elledge yodeled his way to a hit with Nelson's "Funny How Time Slips Away." Willie's understated version is infinitely preferable to both Elledge's and Kris Kristofferson's later rendition. Compare also Nelson's "Crazy" with Patsy Cline's hit version. (The arrangement is almost identical); again, Nelson's characteristic dryness underscores the limits of Cline's emotive delivery. Far from being some failed attempt at selling out, these sessions are a must for Willie Nelson fans and students of American singing alike.