Wednesday, April 21, 2010

The Winning Hand (1982)

At the end of this blog I will paste a helpful review from an Amazon customer about the nature of this album. I don’t know how Peter from Leicester, England knows what he knows, but I know he knows more than I do. And it just confirms that Willie’s music is sort of like sausage: it sure tastes good, but you might not want to know how it was made. Many of the Willie tracks on this album are new to me and quite good, but it bugs the heck out of me that the liner notes give you ZERO information about the recordings. I have listened to some baffling compilations, but this may be the most baffling of them all. Mash ups of previously recorded Dolly and Brenda with updated Willie side-by-side with re-issued Willie tracks? Oh well. Here goes. Willie’s first track is “You’re Gonna Love Yourself (in the Morning),” a “duet” with Brenda Lee. I could do without the cheesy strings and electric guitar solo, but Willie’s vocals are worth the price of admission. The version of “You’ll Always Have Someone” is new to me. It may be my favorite to date. The other three sound like the same recording with different mixes on different compilations. This may come from another album, but not one I have reviewed yet. The setting is spare, with fiddle and harmonica and light drums and bass. I give it a 4. I never would have thought I would enjoy hearing Willie singing “Happy, Happy Birthday Baby,” but his vocals shine. I am not crazy about the spliced together nature of this recording, but it’s worth owning. Ditto for this version of “You Left Me a Long Time Ago.” “To Make a Long Story Short, She’s Gone” cracks me up. I’d like to hear other versions of this song with just Willie, but this is a pleasant discovery. Willie’s vocals are as strong as ever. Dolly’s “Everything’s Beautiful” certainly fits with Willie’s optimistic Buddhist philosophy. Hakuna matata. Don’t worry, be happy. This is a different version of “I Never Cared for You.” Not my favorite, but interesting nonetheless. Willie sings back-up to Kristofferson on “Casey’s Last Ride.” I’d rather hear Willie sing it straight. Willie sings the second verse. Rhymes “pint of bitter” with “mirror.” Only in country. Can’t believe I’ve never heard “King of a Lonely Castle” before. This may be my favorite track on the album. “Best to pretend with a storybook end.” Some synthesizers in the background are insulting, but Willie and Trigger are in rare form, and that must be Mickey haunting around on harmonica like a local memory. All in all, this is worth owning, but I need to track down the details about the recordings. Till then, Peter from England will have to suffice:
Peter Durward Harris "Pete the music fan" (Leicester England)

“This album features four singers who could each be classed as a true original, but the album is not quite what you might expect. It features some newly recorded material, some old recordings and some tracks that mix up the two.

Dolly did not actually take part in the project, though I assume she gave permission for her old Monument recordings to be used. If you have heard any of her old Monument recordings, you will know what to expect - but some of the tracks here are not available in their original form. All except one of the tracks featuring Dolly were converted into duets by adding one of the other voices. Willie took part in the project but some of his old recordings were also used. I believe that Willie newly recorded all the duet parts, but the solo tracks were old recordings. I also believe that all the recordings by Kris and Brenda were new. Given all that, it is remarkable that the resultant album sounds as good as it does, but it is also no surprise that Brenda shines the brightest of the four.

This album is worth five stars for its curiosity value but only three for the quality of the music - if all four had been in the studio doing completely new recordings, the results would have been far better. Committed Dolly fans will want this for Ping pong (with Kris) and What do you think about loving (with Brenda) - these songs are (as far as I know) not available anywhere else in any form. I've seen both of Dolly's duets with Willie on other compilations, though I don't know if Dolly's solo recordings of any of those four songs were ever released. Similarly, committed fans of the other three will have their own reasons for wanting this.

Unless you're a committed fan of one of the four (or fairly keen on at least two of them), you may not find enough to get excited about. Each of them has recorded better music individually.”

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