The Complete Atlantic Sessions
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Though Willie Nelson's career wouldn't surge until his mid-'70s label switch from Atlantic to Columbia, these recordings rank with his most significant. Before returning from Nashville to his native Texas and signing with Atlantic as its flagship country artist, Nelson had been dismissed as a journeyman writer of hits for others and a struggling recording artist who sang funny. Label honcho and producer Jerry Wexler (better known for his groundbreaking work with the likes of Aretha Franklin) encouraged Nelson to defy the dictates of conventional country and make the music that was already drawing hippies and rednecks together in Austin, while blurring the distinctions among country, blues, folk, and rock. His label debut, 1973's Shotgun Willie, now sounds over-arranged in light of the organic style he would later favor, but the title cut's a classic, Nelson's version of Leon Russell's "A Song for You" has never been bettered, and his renditions of "Whiskey River" and "Stay All Night (Stay a Little Longer)" have highlighted his live performances ever since. The real gem of this three-disc set is the next year's follow-up, Phases and Stages, an underheard classic of a concept album detailing the dissolution of a marriage from both the wife's and the husband's perspective, featuring some of the richest writing and most compelling vocal performances of Nelson's career. The last disc is a 1974 performance recorded on Nelson's home Austin turf, unreleased at the time, with the core of the band that still backs him today joined by virtuosic luminaries such as steel guitarist Jimmy Day and fiddler Johnny Gimble. Each of the remastered discs boasts an abundance of outtakes and alternate tracks. This music not only provided the launching pad for "outlaw country," it established Austin's reputation as a freewheeling music mecca where anything goes. --Don McLeese
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Album information
| Release Date (USA): | 2006-06-20 |
| Release Date (UK): | |
| Artist/s: | Willie Nelson |
| Label: | Rhino / Wea |
Track Listing
| 1 | Shotgun Willie | |
| 2 | Whiskey River | |
| 3 | Sad Songs And Waltzes | |
| 4 | Local Memory | |
| 5 | Slow Down Old World | |
| 6 | Stay All Night (Stay A Little Longer) | |
| 7 | Devil In A Sleeping Bag | |
| 8 | She's Not For You | |
| 9 | Bubbles In My Beer | |
| 10 | You Look Like The Devil | |
| 11 | So Much To Do | |
| 12 | A Song For You | |
| 13 | I Gotta Have Something I Ain't Got (Outtake) [Bonus Track] | |
| 14 | I'm So Ashamed (Outtake) [Bonus Track] | |
| 15 | My Cricket & Me (Solo Outtake) [Bonus Track] | |
| 16 | Both Ends Of The Candle (Outtake) [Bonus Track] | |
| 17 | Slowdown Old World (Alternate Version) [Bonus Track] | |
| 18 | Under The Double Eagle (Outtake) [Bonus Track] | |
| 19 | So Much To Do (Alternate Version) [Bonus Track] | |
| 20 | My Cricket & Me (Band Outtake) [Bonus Track] | |
| 21 | Save Your Tears (Outtake) [Bonus Track] | |
| 22 | A Song For You (Alternate Version) [Bonus Track] | |
| 23 | Whiskey River (Alternate Version) [Bonus Track] | |
| 24 | I Drank All Of Our Precious Love Away (Outtake) [Bonus Track] | |
| 25 | Phases And Stages (Theme) Washing The Dishes | |
| 26 | Phases And Stages (Theme) Walkin' | |
| 27 | Pretend I Never Happened | |
| 28 | Sister's Coming Home Down At The Corner Beer Joint | |
| 29 | (How Will I Know) I'm Falling In Love Again | |
| 30 | Bloody Mary Morning | |
| 31 | Phases And Stages (Theme) No Love Around | |
| 32 | I Still Can't Believe You're Gone | |
| 33 | It's Not Supposed To Be That Way | |
| 34 | Heaven And Hell | |
| 35 | Phases And Stages (Theme) Pick Up The Tempo-Phases And Stages (Theme) | |
| 36 | Phases And Stages (Theme) (Alternate Version) Washing The Dishes (Alternate Version) | |
| 37 | Sister's Coming Home (Alternate Version) Down At The Corner Beer Joint (Alternate Version) | |
| 38 | Phases And Stages (Theme) (Alternate Version) | |
| 39 | (How Will I Know) I'm Falling In Love Again (Alternate Version) | |
| 40 | Bloody Mary Morning (Alternate Version) | |
| 41 | No Love Around (Alternate Version) | |
| 42 | I Still Can't Believe You're Gone (Alternate Version) | |
| 43 | It's Not Supposed To Be That Way (Alternate Version) | |
| 44 | Heaven And Hell (Alternate Version/Duet Vocal) | |
| 45 | Phases And Stages (Theme) Pick Up The Tempo | |
| 46 | Phases And Stages (Theme) (Alternate Version) | |
| 47 | Whiskey River | |
| 48 | Me And Paul | |
| 49 | Medley: Funny How Time Slips Away, Crazy, Night Life | |
| 50 | Stay All Night (Stay A Little Longer) [Disc 3] | |
| 51 | Bloody Mary Morning/Take Me Back To Tulsa | |
| 52 | The Party's Over | |
| 53 | Truck Drivin' Man | |
| 54 | She Thinks I Still Care | |
| 55 | Good Hearted Woman | |
| 56 | Sister's Comin' Home | |
| 57 | Shotgun Willie | |
| 58 | You Look Like The Devil | |
| 59 | Bloody Mary Morning (Electric Guitar Version) | |
| 60 | Medley: Funny How Time Slips Away, Crazy, Night Life | |
| 61 | Willie's After Hours (Studio Track) |
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