Kris Kristofferson - Austin Sessions
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Artist: Kris KristoffersonBrand: KRISTOFFERSON,KRIS
Edition: Music CD
CD Release Date: 1999-08-24
Music Label: Atlantic
Soundtracks:
- Me And Bobby McGee
- Sunday Morning Coming Down
- For The Good Times
- The Silver Tongued Devil And I
- Help Me Make It Through The Night
- Loving Her Was Easier (Than Anything I'll Ever Do Again)
- To Beat The Devil
- Who's To Bless And Who's To Blame
- Why Me?
- Nobody Wins
- The Pilgrim: Chapter 33
- Please Don't Tell Me How The Story Ends
Music reviews of Austin Sessions
Music Review: Texas tea and sympathy.
Rating: 5 Stars
You don't realize what a giant of American poetry and songwriting Kris Kristofferson is until you hear a CD full of him doing his own stuff. Success of friends like fellow Highwayman Johnny Cash ("Sunday Morning Coming Down") singing KK's material has partially obscured KK's greatness. "The Austin Sessions" will cause any scales of obscurity/ignorance to fall from the eyes.
Recorded at Arlyn Studios in Austin, Texas, in 1999, Kristofferson reviews his art on the cusp of a new century in powerful and very spiritual ways. Remarks in the CD's jacket notes bring to mind the biblical prophecy of the valley of the bones (Ezekiel 37) - Kristofferson: "Time and the road have whittled the fat away `til there is nothing but bone and sinew. I am struck by how alive they are...I will carry these versions of these songs as my artistic ID into the hereafter." And, at that time, Kris, I suspect you'll be dealt kindness and truth since that's the road you chose in life.
An all-star cast backs Kristofferson in "The Austin Sessions" including Jackson Browne (harmony vocal on "Me and Bobby McGee"), Marc Cohn, Vince Gill, Alison Krauss, and Mark Knopfler of Dire Straights. The pace and messages are pure Kristofferson, though.
True fans will notice subtle changes. Contra Janis Joplin's rendition, Bobby McGee is a woman in KK's version. Kristofferson changes the line in "Help Me Make It Through The Night" from "...it's SAD to be alone..." to "...it's BAD to be alone..." (although the jacket lyrics lists the original "sad" line). Again, the artist is reaching for something highly spiritual/biblical - see Genesis 2:18 when G-d says it's not good ("lo tov" in Hebrew) for man to be alone.
Kristofferson also displays a Jewish sensibility in the "Silver-Tongued Devil and I" when he describes the Devil as being in all of us (known as the yetzer ha-ra, or evil inclination, in Judaism) as opposed to an identifiable personage walking around sporting horns, a red tail, and pitchfork. KK bridges it wisely here and in "To Beat The Devil" when he shows the Devil to be like a whole other personality yet as tied to us as our own shadows.
"Why Me?" is a potent Christian spiritual. Its gratitude and contrition could do more to promote true G-dly living than 100 speeches by Reverend...Well, let's leave off the names. Sadly, Kristofferson's music isn't played much on Christian radio and much less on corporatized, bulls**tized mainstream radio. This great song is falling between the cracks. Past time that it made its way into Protestant hymnals and the air waves.
Insightful social commentary also flows from Kristofferson's pen. Historian Tony Judt, in his fine collection of essays "Reappraisals: Reflections on the Forgotten Twentieth Century," wonders if Western man has accepted the ethos of globalist capitalism along the lines of how Karl Marx explained the "iron laws" of economics. KK comes at the question in a different way, showing us that economics can't be dismissed although Judt and Kristofferson would agree that economics isn't an end-all. In "To Beat The Devil," Kristofferson urges persistence against what seems like a stacked deck.
"You see the Devil haunts the hungry man
You don't want to join him
You gotta beat him
I ain't saying I beat the Devil
But I drank his beer for nothing
Then stole his song."
Freedom isn't an end-all either. Note the crucial difference between Joplin's "Me and Bobby McGee" and Kristofferson's. The Full-Tilt Boogie Band Janis version reflects the spirit of the 1960s, holding out freedom as The Goal. Janis sings: "Nothin' ain't worth nothing IF it ain't free." A mature Kristofferson is skeptical of that - "Nothin', ain't worth nothing BUT it's free." KK seems to have found something higher than freedom. The CD cover photo of Kris prominently sporting a wedding ring may be the answer.
Looking from one end of his life to the other, our artist with the redundant name (little joke there) concludes "The Austin Sessions" with "The Pilgrim: Chapter 33" and "Please Don't Tell Me How The Story Ends." (Tell me if you don't recognize yourself in these lines).
Past and present:
"He's a poet (he's a picker)
He's a prophet (he's a pusher)
He's a pilgrim and a preacher and a problem when he's stoned
He's a walking contradiction
Partly truth and partly fiction
Taking every wrong direction on his lonely way back home."
("The Pilgrim: Chapter 33.")
Present and future:
"Never's just the echo of forever
Lonesome as a love that might have been
Let me go on lovin' and believin' `til it's over
Please don't tell me how the story ends."
Description of Austin Sessions
No Description AvailableNo Track Information Available
Media Type: CD
Artist: KRISTOFFERSON,KRIS
Title: AUSTIN SESSIONS
Street Release Date: 08/24/1999
Genre: COUNTRY
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