Track Listing

Disc 1:

1. Shotgun Willie
2. Whiskey River
3. Sad Songs And Waltzes
4. Local Memory
5. Slow Down Old World
6. Stay All Night (Stay A Little Longer)
7. Devil In A Sleeping Bag
8. She's Not For You
9. Bubbles In My Beer
10. You Look Like The Devil
11. So Much To Do
12. A Song For You
13. I Gotta Have Something I Ain't Got (Outtake) [Bonus Track]
14. I'm So Ashamed (Outtake) [Bonus Track]
15. My Cricket & Me (Solo Outtake) [Bonus Track]
16. Both Ends Of The Candle (Outtake) [Bonus Track]
17. Slowdown Old World (Alternate Version) [Bonus Track]
18. Under The Double Eagle (Outtake) [Bonus Track]
19. So Much To Do (Alternate Version) [Bonus Track]
20. My Cricket & Me (Band Outtake) [Bonus Track]
21. Save Your Tears (Outtake) [Bonus Track]
22. A Song For You (Alternate Version) [Bonus Track]
23. Whiskey River (Alternate Version) [Bonus Track]
24. I Drank All Of Our Precious Love Away (Outtake) [Bonus Track]

Disc 2:

1. Phases And Stages (Theme) Washing The Dishes
2. Phases And Stages (Theme) Walkin'
3. Pretend I Never Happened
4. Sister's Coming Home Down At The Corner Beer Joint
5. (How Will I Know) I'm Falling In Love Again
6. Bloody Mary Morning
7. Phases And Stages (Theme) No Love Around
8. I Still Can't Believe You're Gone
9. It's Not Supposed To Be That Way
10. Heaven And Hell
11. Phases And Stages (Theme) Pick Up The Tempo-Phases And Stages (Theme)
12. Phases And Stages (Theme) (Alternate Version) Washing The Dishes (Alternate Version)
13. Sister's Coming Home (Alternate Version) Down At The Corner Beer Joint (Alternate Version)
14. Phases And Stages (Theme) (Alternate Version)
15. (How Will I Know) I'm Falling In Love Again (Alternate Version)
16. Bloody Mary Morning (Alternate Version)
17. No Love Around (Alternate Version)
18. I Still Can't Believe You're Gone (Alternate Version)
19. It's Not Supposed To Be That Way (Alternate Version)
20. Heaven And Hell (Alternate Version/Duet Vocal)
21. Phases And Stages (Theme) Pick Up The Tempo
22. Phases And Stages (Theme) (Alternate Version)

Disc 3:

1. Whiskey River
2. Me And Paul
3. Medley: Funny How Time Slips Away, Crazy, Night Life
4. Stay All Night (Stay A Little Longer) [Disc 3]
5. Bloody Mary Morning/Take Me Back To Tulsa
6. The Party's Over
7. Truck Drivin' Man
8. She Thinks I Still Care
9. Good Hearted Woman
10. Sister's Comin' Home
11. Shotgun Willie
12. You Look Like The Devil
13. Bloody Mary Morning (Electric Guitar Version)
14. Medley: Funny How Time Slips Away, Crazy, Night Life
15. Willie's After Hours (Studio Track)

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #53260 in Music
• Brand: NELSON,WILLIE
• Released on: 2006-06-20
• Number of discs: 3
• Formats: Box set, Original recording remastered
• Dimensions: .60 pounds

Album Description
The legendary career of Texas-born music icon Willie Nelson has spanned six decades and stands as one of contemporary music’s greatest legacies. Nelson first rose to fame as a Nashville-based songwriter, penning many now timeless standards including "Crazy," a top hit for Patsy Cline. Feeling constrained by the Nashville music establishment, Willie relocated to Austin in the early ‘70s, where the melding of rock and country audiences made a huge impression on him. He began fusing folk and roots rock with a rebellious "outlaw" country flavor, inventing an authentic, stripped-down sound that remains vastly influential to this day. At this pivotal point in his artistic evolution, Nelson signed to Atlantic Records, delivering two signature albums revered as all-time masterpieces of his extensive repertoire, Shotgun Willie and Phases And Stages. This historic set presents remastered and expanded editions of these landmark classics, along with the also-expanded Live At The Texas Opry House, presented as a stand-alone disc for the first time.

Amazon.com
Though Willie Nelson's career wouldn't surge until his mid-'70s label switch from Atlantic to Columbia, these recordings rank with his most significant. Before returning from Nashville to his native Texas and signing with Atlantic as its flagship country artist, Nelson had been dismissed as a journeyman writer of hits for others and a struggling recording artist who sang funny. Label honcho and producer Jerry Wexler (better known for his groundbreaking work with the likes of Aretha Franklin) encouraged Nelson to defy the dictates of conventional country and make the music that was already drawing hippies and rednecks together in Austin, while blurring the distinctions among country, blues, folk, and rock. His label debut, 1973's Shotgun Willie, now sounds over-arranged in light of the organic style he would later favor, but the title cut's a classic, Nelson's version of Leon Russell's "A Song for You" has never been bettered, and his renditions of "Whiskey River" and "Stay All Night (Stay a Little Longer)" have highlighted his live performances ever since. The real gem of this three-disc set is the next year's follow-up, Phases and Stages, an underheard classic of a concept album detailing the dissolution of a marriage from both the wife's and the husband's perspective, featuring some of the richest writing and most compelling vocal performances of Nelson's career. The last disc is a 1974 performance recorded on Nelson's home Austin turf, unreleased at the time, with the core of the band that still backs him today joined by virtuosic luminaries such as steel guitarist Jimmy Day and fiddler Johnny Gimble. Each of the remastered discs boasts an abundance of outtakes and alternate tracks. This music not only provided the launching pad for "outlaw country," it established Austin's reputation as a freewheeling music mecca where anything goes. --Don McLeese

Customer Reviews

A 'Must-Have' Collection
Now here is a box set that is worth checking out. Willie Nelson's tenure at Atlantic Records was rather short-lived, lasting only two albums, but it was a crucial time in his career and it bridged the gap between his early RCA sides and the `superstar' product of his association with Columbia Records. As the story goes, Atlantic's Jerry Wexler stumbled upon Willie at a party, at a time when Willie was without a label and Atlantic was looking to branch out into country music. With his long hair and his Austin, Texas affiliations, Willie was not a `conventional' (read `Nashville') country artist, so this box set more or less documents the birth of country music's `outlaw' phase. It also documents a time when country music was starting to branch out toward the mainstream, and Willie's style was best suited for this purpose.
"Shotgun Willie" is the first album of this set, and it is a sporadic effort that contains more than its share of highlights, including his definitive version of "Whiskey River" (infinitely better than the dozens of live versions that are available) and the equally definitive interpretation of Leon Russell's "Song for You." "Slow Down Old World" and "She's Not For You" represent some of the best orchestrated, tear-jerking country music you'll ever hear, while the title track and "Stay All Night (Stay a Little Longer)" keep things loose and playful.
The masterpiece of this box set, though, is Willie's first theme album (before Columbia's "Red Headed Stranger"), entitled "Phases and Stages." The concept is simple, but brutally direct and powerful, documenting a breakup from the woman's perspective on `side one', followed by the male counterpoint on `side two'. The premise fits the stereotype of cheatin', drinkin' and cryin' songs, but Willie is a powerful songwriter and the self-indulgent sadness of the protagonists is palpable, especially on "Pretend I Never Happened" and "I Still Can't Believe You're Gone." "Bloody Mary Morning" is one of Nelson's best songs, and it is a brilliant starting point to capture the male perspective before the cold, hard truth sets in. Any fan of Country music will immediately recognize "Phases and Stages" as a timeless classic.
The surprise of this set, though (and a good reason to buy it even if you already own both of the others), is the previously unavailable live album. Recorded on Willie's home turf in Austin, Texas, it captures him performing with his most sympathetic backup musicians, including Paul English on drums (the subject of Nelson's "Me and Paul") and sister Bobby Nelson on piano. Of all the live Willie Nelson albums that are available, this is the best of the lot, capturing Willie at the height of his powers as a songwriter and as a performer. He would soon go on to become a household name, but the three CD's in this box set do the best job of capturing the reasons for his subsequent success. A Tom Ryan

The Complete Atlantic Sessions by Willie Nelson
Let me begin by saying that I have just ordered this CD set so I have not listened to these CD's specifically. However, I purchased the record albums of "Phases and Stages" and "Shotgun Willie" just before I attended his 4th of July Picnic at Dripping Springs,Tx. It was either in '72 or '73, my memory isn't that good any more. I bought the Red Headed Stranger album as soon as it came on the radio and I was sitting at a table just in front of the stage in the old, original Texas Opry House in Austin when that session was recorded. If you listen real close you can hear me yelling during the begining of one of my special favorite songs. So I'm real familiar with the recordings on these CD's and they are some of my favorites.

After over 30 years of playing, my albums are worn out so I am especially happy Atlantic published them on CD's.

In summary, these CD's are a must for every Willie fan and anyone who likes good country music. These CD's are unusual in that each of the three albums I have tell a story. I'm sure there must be a word that describes such albums, but I'm just a fan, not in the music business.

Buy'em, you'll like'em.

The live CD is awesome
The orginial CD's are great and don't need to be reviewed. The bonus disc "Live at the Opry" is just a ray of sunshine. The music is great the energy is fabulous. If you own the originial CD's buy this set for the bonus disc.