WILLIE NELSON - PHASES & STAGES (RSD24)

1 Phases and Stages / Washing the Dishes (Remastered)
2 Phases and Stages / Walkin' (Remastered)
3 Pretend I Never Happened (Remastered)
4 Sister's Coming Home / Down at the Corner Beer Joint (Remastered)
5 (How Will I Know) I'm Falling in Love Again [Remastered]
6 Bloody Mary Morning (Remastered Version)
7 Phases and Stages / No Love Around (Remastered)
8 I Still Can't Believe You're Gone (Remastered)
9 It's Not Supposed to Be That Way (Remastered)
10 Heaven and Hell (Remastered)
11 Phases and Stages / Pick Up the Tempo / Phases and Stages (Theme)

If Shotgun Willie played a bit like a concept album, Phases and Stages was full-blown, tracing the dissolution of a marriage and devoting one side to the wife's perspective, the second to the husband's…. Phases and Stages is easily the equal of its remarkable predecessor, a wonderful set of music that resonates deeply, as deeply as the words.
Make no mistake -- the deceptively relaxed arrangements, including the occasional strings, not only highlight Nelson's clever eclecticism, they also heighten the emotional impact of the album. And this is a hell of an emotional record, where even each side's celebratory honky tonk numbers (the medley "Sister's Coming Home/Down at the Corner Beer Joint" and "Pick Up the Tempo," respectively) are muted by sadness. Then, there are the centerpieces: "Walkin'," where the woman decides it's time to move on; "Pretend I Never Happened," perhaps the coldest ending to a relationship ever written; "Bloody Mary Morning," a bleary-eyed morning-after tale that became a standard; "It's Not Supposed to Be That Way," a nearly unbearably melancholy account of a love gone wrong; and "Heaven and Hell," a waltz summary of the relationship. Any two of these would have formed a strong core for an album, but placed together in a narrative context, their impact is even more considerable. As a result, this is not just one of Willie Nelson's best records, but one of the great concept albums overall.