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15 of 16 found the following review helpful:
Little-known, but one of his best Sep 24, 1999
This album was Merle Haggard's self-proclaimed "therapy" album, a kind of extended meditation about being (at the time) 41 years old and not sure about wanting to continue the life of a musician. The opener, "Footlights," lays out that gloomy dilemma right from the start; he croons the self-mocking lines "Tonight I'll kick the footlights out again/And try and hide the mood I'm really in/And flash on my ol' instamatic grin/Yes, tonight I'll kick the footlights out again" with the air of a guy who knows that those two hours up onstage aren't going to cure his blues, but what else is there to do? "Got Lonely Too Early This Morning," "I Can't Get Away," and many of the others continue in the same vein. It would all be bathetic if the playing and singing on this album weren't some of the best Haggard and The Strangers (and others) have ever done---and if the songs weren't some of Haggard's best. The mood clears at the end with the lovely "Roses In The Winter," but it's a stormy road getting there all the same. Worth it, anyway; if you like Merle Haggard, this is one you should get.
11 of 11 found the following review helpful:
Great music, period. Dec 15, 2003
By Brian "Jazz Fan" J. B.
Hag's voice has deepened by this album and he uses that instrument very well here. This recording is as artistically superior as his Capitol stuff, but with a different sound and different topics. The whole album fits together, from the theme of running from life and trying to forget one's problems, to memories (false or imagined?) of a loving childhood, to staring all the problems a man can have in the face and declaring that there'll be roses in the winter because love is all we have to have (though you know a tough road lies ahead). A great combination of songs, singing, and musicianship. That this is basically a bargain bin album tells you all you need to know about the state of country music today. This album deserves a remastered, deluxe version with liner notes for godsakes.
13 of 14 found the following review helpful:
This album deserves 100 stars keep these songs being played and sung. Nov 04, 2005
By Tony Thomas
This is one of the best CDs of any Kind that I have ever owned. I am really speaking of the tape that I bought of this when it came out. I think I had one of the great evenings of my entire life the second or third time I listened to this on one evening in 1983 or 1984 beside a little lake where I lived in Opa Locka Florida, at a time when i thought things were pretty bad for me, but just listening to this music and these words hit the spot.
In justice to Haggard, this music was recorded more than 22 years ago. Some of the players in the great touring and studio bands that he put together during the late 1970s and the early 1980s are no longer living or have retired from music.
There is something so powerfully romantic about "The Red Bandana" --is that about Bonnie Owens????? and "Roses in Winter," something so hot, real and almost poetically wild drunk but sweet about "Got Lonely Too Early This Morning," and oh "Driftwood," and "I didn't mean to love you."
What really hits one, even though I am delighted by Hag's singing and Bonnie's backups, and the whole band, is these songs. The quality of these songs and the way they speak to mature life, and not soap opera bulb gum triteness, is remarkable. These songs really are adaptable across genre. This album should bne appreciated not only by Hag fans. CW, Folk, and even Jazz singers looking for material or looking to see how a great artist puts a great album of together need not only to listen and enjoy, but to study and keep these songs being played and sung.
Thank you Hag wherever you are!
3 of 3 found the following review helpful:
Just doesn't get any better Nov 17, 2002
By Jazzy Jake
"jazzyjake"
This album has a permanent place in my "desert island disks". A top candidate for the best country album of all time. With the exception of the mawkish "Sing A Family Song", it is one great song after another. Hag delivers each song with acuity and makes you a believer. The band is tight and contributes plenty interesting moments. I've always admired Hag for stepping outside the confines of traditional country arrangements (adding horns for example) and having the wisdom of assembling great players and letting them play. Bookmarked by perfect, melancholy songs, "Footlights" and "Roses In the Winter", my favorites also have to include "Driftwood", for its great flat picking, and "Heaven Was A Drink of Wine", for its witty pathos. This album showcases Hag at his best and it just doesn't get any better. It belongs in everyone's CD cabinet.
3 of 3 found the following review helpful:
One of Merle's Best Aug 06, 2001
By Michael Carley
I have reviewed several Haggard CDs (click on my name to see the others) and most get high marks, but this one is probably my personal favorite. The Strangers were at the height of their powers and the songwriting is some of Hag's best. Footlights is a musician's song. It has been described well in a prior review and is popular among most of those who've heard it. "Red Bandana" is a great song about ex-wife Bonnie Owens, who still travels with him. It has one of the great references in country songwriting, "You ain't never gonna be no Bobby McGee, but you're tryin' to". "My Own Kind of Hat" is a fan favorite. The lyrics ("Cowboys and Outlaws, right guys and southpaws...") take a playful swipe at the then popular Outlaw movement in country music. The guitar work of these two songs in particular is some of the best of Hag's career. "Roses in the Winter" is one of Hag's least known ballads, and one of my favorites. If you like "Sing a Family Song", you may also like Hag's most recent album "If I Could Only Fly". Several songs on that CD are in the same vein. Those songs are just some of the more notable. Truthfully, there isn't a bad track on this CD. If you like Hag's music, this is one of the best available.
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