Kris Kristofferson Kristofferson CD

KRISTOFFERSON is a remastered version of ME & BOBBY MCGEE that contains four bonus tracks.

Originally released in 1970 as KRISTOFFERSON on Monument (18139) and in 1971 as ME & BOBBY MCGEE on Columbia (30817). Includes liner notes by Johnny Cash, Billy Swan, and Al Cooley.

Digitally remastered by Joseph M. Palmaccio (Sony Studios, New York, New York).

Kris Kristofferson's remarkable 1970 debut has one foot in the world of the longhaired rock & roll outlaw and the other firmly entrenched in the country story-song tradition. Alternating between a buttery, off-center croon and a hickory-smoked morning-after rasp, Kristofferson spins evocative tales of drunks, lonely hearts, and misfits, with nimble guitar work and an overwhelmingly literary attention to detail.

The leadoff track, "Blame It on the Stones," is a woozy cousin to Bob Dylan's "Rainy Day Women #12 & 35," sarcastically placing the blame for several societal ills on Mick Jagger and company. This distrust of non-traditional values is also lampooned in "The Law Is for Protection of the People," in which cops are urged to do whatever is necessary to keep hippies from "scaring decent folks like you and me." The heart of the record, however, is a quartet of unforgettable classics--"Me and Bobby McGee" (a posthumous hit for Janis Joplin in '71), "Sunday Morning Comin' Down" (a chart success for Johnny Cash), and the ballads "Help Me Make It Through the Night" and "For the Good Times" (both covered by numerous artists, country and otherwise). With this release, Kristofferson established himself as a songwriter of the first degree, equally accessible to rockers, folkies, and the Nashville establishment.

Producer: Fred Foster.

Reissue producers: Al Quaglieri, Nick Shaffran.

Personnel: Kris Kristofferson (vocals, guitar).

Liner Note Authors: Fred Foster; Johnny Cash; Billy Swan.

Recording information: Monument Recording Studio (1969).Rolling Stone (5/10/01, p.90) - 4 stars out of 5 - "...One of the great lost records of the hippie era, a country masterpiece packed with tales of drifters and dreamers recounted in rough-hewn poetry worthy of the best honky-tonk songwriters..."
No Depression (1-2/01, pp.77-8) - "...These are soul-baring songs, about real people with pain and suffering and loneliness and regret, looking for someone or something or someone to help them get by..."
Mojo (Publisher) (6/01, p.124) - "...Proved he was not only a great writer but a superb singer, too. This reissue has 4 songs not on the vinyl....superb, chiefly the jaunty 'Junkie'..."