Gene Watson: CMP Album Reviews
Gene Watson has been singing professionally since the late 1950s & has been
a country music (album) recording artist since the late 1960s.
Gene Watson steps into a recording studio and, like a great chef, uses the
perfect ingredients to create an aural feast. When Gene Watson takes a step
behind the microphone, magic happens.
Gene Watson's contribution to the country music genre is immeasurable and it
is here that you have an opportunity to read a CMP review of Gene Watson's
'Gene Watson: Then & Now' (Koch Records
Nashville, 2005), as published in the
October 2005
issue of Country Music People.
Country Music People is the United Kingdom's No. 1 Award Winning Country
Music Magazine, and was the recipient of the Country Music Association's
2003 Wesley Rose International Achievement Award.
Country Music People was first published in 1970 and protects its integrity
fiercely. The magazine has always brought its readers detailed, honest
record reviews untainted by advertising considerations, as well as genuine
interviews with country stars that are not faked from interview discs sent
out by publicists and record labels.
Country Music People have
long ago nailed its colours to the mast where Gene Watson is concerned.
The magazine has rigorously championed Gene's cause down through the years
and have published a number of reviews of his album releases.
'Gene Watson: Then & Now' (Koch Records Nashville, 2005)
This CMP review by Al Moir, which was published in the October 2005 issue of
Country Music People, is reproduced here with the kind permission of the
publishers.
Album Review by Al Moir
(***** out of 5)
'Since his first chart entry in 1975 with 'Love in the hot afternoon', Gene
Watson has seen a lot of chart action on various major labels, namely
Capitol, MCA, Curb, Epic and Warner. However, he made it all the way to the
top just once, with 'Fourteen carat mind' in 1982, and many would argue that
this instantly recognisable vocal stylist has never had the recognition he
fully deserved.
Over the years he released consistently good albums that included a wealth
of material never released as singles and which were therefore overlooked by
DJs. Watson has now decided to dig out some of these great but ignored songs
and re-record them.
Gathering together a number of Nashville's finest including Jimmy Capps, Pig
Robbins, Gregg Galbraith, Sonny Garrish, Hank Singer and Hoot Hester, he
self-financed ten of the tracks before Koch Records stepped in to take the
album on.
Only four of the songs - 'Back in the fire', 'You could know as much about a
stranger', 'Sometimes I get lucky' and 'The jukebox played along' - were
released as singles, the remainder being relegated to album tracks. On
these newly-cut versions, Watson is in terrific vocal form, as good as when
he originally recorded them.
Making no concessions towards what is today considered commercial or radio
friendly, Watson remains solidly country, and it is genuinely refreshing to
hear him singing with more passion and soul than many artists we are asked
to accept as being dyed-in-the-wool country these days.
Watson drips with country soul on ballads like 'Only yesterday', 'I didn't
think of you at all', 'I wonder how it is in Colorado' and 'I catch myself',
and his reading of the more up-tempo tunes such as 'I'm a fool for leaving'
and 'You put out an old flame last night' are flawless.
According to Watson, he intends to delve back into more of his earlier
recordings to find material worthy of renewed exposure, so 'Then & Now'
could well be the first in a series of similar releases. If this is the
case, Gene Watson fans, and indeed anyone seeking the real deal in country
music, really do have something to look forward to'.
Al Moir
Country Music People
October 2005
