Forgive the pretentiousness of borrowing the title of Gay Talese's famous 1966 essay about a recalcitrant Frank Sinatra, but that's the thought that occurred to me as I listened to Willie Nelson's listless new CD. It pains me to say that about an album I was excited to hear by one of my favorite artists. But I fear that Willie's incessant touring and recording, plus his 76 years of hard livin'--including his incessant use of ganja--may have all finally caught up with him.
The concept for Willie's debut on Blue Note records was blue chip: ace producer Tommy LiPuma assembled a crack band with jazz stalwarts including pianist Joe Sample and bassist Christian McBride. The songs would be jazzy arrangements from the Great American Songbook, which Willie had previously mined on the fantastic "Stardust" and "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" albums. But those were recorded three decades ago, and Willie has put on a lot of miles since then.
The song selection lived up to the album's title, with the classics including "The Nearness of You," "Fly Me to the Moon," "Come Rain or Come Shine," "Ain't Misbehavin'," "Baby It's Cold Outside," and "Since I Fell For You" among the 12 tracks. But there's a numbing sameness of tempo to the proceedings, and Willie sounds tired--almost disinterested. Even a couple of prominent guest vocalists don't help: on "If I Had You," Diana Krall has her usual Nyquil effect; and the May-September pairing with Norah Jones on "Baby It's Cold Outside" had me frantically dialing my iPod to find Ray Charles and Betty Carter's playful, sexy version.
As a musician ages, it's probably easier for an instrumentalist to adjust to the passing of time, but it's harder for a vocalist to hide behind a microphone. What's most jarring here is that WIllie sounds different--lacking his usual soul--so suddenly. By the time the album concludes with a song he made an American classic, "Always On My Mind," you wonder why he would try and improve upon his definitive version from 1982.
Maybe Willie had a really bad cold.
Download 11 Since I Fell For You
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