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Avg. Rating: 4.5
A classic 1990s country record
As the album review states, Don Was (of Was [Not Was]) fame, produced this wonderful 1993 record from Willie Nelson. He had established himself as a well-respected producer after producing Bonnie Raitt's 1989 masterpiece 'Nick Of Time.'
But, having Was' name is just one of the many reasons to listen to the record. 'Across The Borderline' remains, in my opinion, one of the most important country music records of the 1990s. Willie's voice is in top shape, and his band is at it's best.
Willie puts his own original workings on Paul Simon's classic 'Graceland' and Lyle Lovett's 'Farther On Down The Line.' And, one of my favorite Willie songs is 'The Most Unoriginal Sin,' which features a mixture of the classic 1970s country sound and the modern sound.
Released on Columbia, 'Across The Borderline' is a must have for any Willie fan. Highly recommended for anybody who likes Willie. ENJOY!!!
Some of Willie's best collaborations.
One of my favorite artists and one of his best albums.
These songs are all powerful in their own way. I first came across this album when I was a little homesick while stationed in Puerto Rico in the U.S. Army back in 1993. I wore out the cassette listening to it.
Willie's rendition of "Graceland" is top notch, as good as the fella who wrote the song Paul Simon... and with equal feeling. Willie was a friend to Elvis, too, and as many of us know wrote many of Elvis' songs.
"Getting Over You" with Bonnie Raitt is wonderful.
I could list every song and why it's good, but I'll let the listener discover for themselves why I give this work Five Stars...
What can I say about Willie Nelson and Bob Dylan singing "Heartland" together. They've toured together numerous times and they are very good friends, two of America's very best songwriters. This is an important song for farmers and Farm-Aid, bringing awareness to their cause on a number of levels.
"The Most Unoriginal Sin" is a very old tune that I am glad Willie Nelson has redid. His version is the best I've heard.
1. American Tune - (with Paul Simon)
2. Getting Over You - (with Bonnie Raitt)
3. Most Unoriginal Sin, The
4. Don't Give Up - (with Sinead O'Connor)
5. Heartland - (with Bob Dylan)
6. Across The Borderline
7. Graceland - (with Paul Simon)
8. Farther Down The Line
9. Valentine
10. What Was It You Wanted
11. I Love The Life I Live
12. If I Were The Man You Wanted
13. She's Not For You
14. Still Is Still Moving To Me
I could list every song and why it's good, but I'll let the listener discover for themselves why I give this work Five Stars...a don't miss!
Good Country with Some good duets
Willie Nelson's Across the Borderline is a classic album. On this record there are songs that range from covers (ranging from Paul Simon and Peter Gabriel) and originals. Plus the guest appearances are amazing. Paul Simon, Bonnie Raitt, Sinead O'Connor, and Bob Dylan lend their talents to this record. My favorite song is Heartland which Nelson cowrote with Dylan. This collaboration results in a real personal poetic song. Favorites include American Tune (with Paul Simon on lead guitar), Getting over You (with Bonnie Raitt), Most Unoriginal Sin, Don't Give Up (with Sinead O'Connor), Heartland (with Bob Dylan), Graceland, What Was It You Wanted?, Farther Down the Line, and If I Were the Man You Wanted. Highly Highly Recommended.
Typically eclectic album featuring stellar cast of guests
As with so many of Willie's albums, this album is not easy to classify, but it contains elements of several genres including country, pop, rock, folk and blues, all blended together in Willie's own inimitable style.
Willie duets with Bonnie Raitt on Getting over you, Sinead O'Connor on Don't give up (originally a hit duet for Peter Gabriel and Kate Bush) and Bob Dylan on Heartland. Elsewhere on this album, Willie sings solo, but Paul Simon plays guitar on a couple of his own songs - American tune and Graceland. The set closes with a song he has recorded a few times - Still is still moving to me.
This was the last album of original material that Willie recorded for Columbia. It does not contain any of Willie's classics but it's all good stuff, especially those duets with Bonnie and Sinead.
Willie plus a cast of stars
Usually these "cast of thousands" type albums just blend it an overboiled tasteless paste...so much "input" is added that the artist's style disappears, gauzed over by the producer into a faceless project that could have been anyone. Thankfully, this is NOT the case here. Don Was makes a thicker sound for Willie here but stops short of filling the tracks with so many sonic bells and whistles that Willie's greatest asset...that solid interpretive voice of his...gets lost. Indeed, Was' great taste shows in use of touches that sound like they wouldn't work (for example, a muted jazzy trumpet courtesy of Mark Isham on Peter Gabriel's "Don't Give Up") that end up enhancing the songs. Most of the songs here are Willie covering songs of others with quite a few guest vocalists (Sinead O'Connor, Sinead O'Connor, Kris Kristofferson, Bob Dylan, Bonnie Raitt) on tap. The band backing Willie is crack also (Jim Keltner, Mark O'Connor, Benmont Tench,John Leventhal,Johnny Gimble at times). A minor complaint might be that several interesting duets DON'T happen. Willie does a John Hiatt and a Lyle Lovett tune, but they don't sing on the cuts. (Nor does Paul Simon on either of the 2 songs of his Willie does here, though he does play guitar.)
HIGHLIGHTS:
Though Bonnie Raitt's appearance here is probably a result of Was' recent collaboration with her (he produced her big comeback album "Nick of Time"), her smoky latenight bar voice and slide are the perfect compliment on "Getting Over You". Sinead O'Connor, surprisingly, turns out to be a good vocal pairing as well. Their harmonies on the last verse of Peter Gabriel's "Don't Give Up" sparkle, and the arrangement recasts it as the country tale of the distressed workingman that the lyric always was. The title track's saga of a Mexican casting his eyes toward the "broken promised land" of the U.S. benefits from Kristofferson's harmonies, though they could be higher in the mix. Nelson's interpretations of Dylan's "What was it You Wanted?" and Lovett's "Farther Down the Line" and "If I Were the Man You Wanted" are also great. Of the numbers penned by Nelson himself, the brisk "Still is Still Moving to Me" and tender "Valentine" fare best.
LOWS:
Willie turns in a curiously dispassionate reading of Willie Dixon's classic blues "I Love the Life I Live" though the musical backing is nicely relaxed. I consider myself a Dylan fan, though his voice is at its croakiest for "Heartland" making it a track I skip by.
BOTTOM LINE:
Another fine performance from Nelson is made somewhat more contemporary by the collaborations here, though he's not made to play second-fidddle (as Carlos Santana was on his recent album with Rob Thomas and others). Nelson is clearly the star here and the production by Was recognizes that fact. A good one for Nelson fans and for those just learning about him.
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