Singer/Songwriter - neither quite right for me...

Kris Kristofferson - Army captain, Rhodes scholar, movie star (for a while at least) - was at one point regarded as one of the greatest country songwriters working in the music business in the 70's and 80's. In this double-disc retrospective, one disc is devoted to his own versions of some of his biggest songs, and the other disc is made up of covers of his songs by other artists. My overall opinion is to skip this and go straight for his original, early source material - like the Kristofferson album, recently cleaned up and rereleased.

This one shows Kristofferson at his most acceptable, presenting his biggest hits - not really all that big as hits go, but quality songs - which generally tend to be the most polished and mainstream of his canon, which means that it misses the very things that he became famous for. Kristofferson, at the time of his major label debut, was notable as an alternative to the polish and shine of major Nashville artists. This set, chooses the very songs that defeat that purpose, and then pairs them mostly with covers in that polished style - except for the incredible and classic Janis Joplin take on "Me and Bobby McGee". Heck, even the Bob Dylan cover of "My God, They Killed Him" finds Dylan backing himself with a choir in true schmaltz gospel form.

Kristofferson deserves his place in the circle of great folk/country writers, but he also deserves to be heard for his album tracks as much as for his more successful songs.

Seriously, go deeper for Kristofferson. It's an outstanding album and a much better intro than this compilation.