CMP Album Review: Because You Believed in Me & Beautiful Country

Gene Watson has been singing professionally since the late 1950s and has been a country music (album) recording artist since the late 1960s.

Gene Watson steps into a recording studio, takes his place behind the microphone and magic happens.

Gene Watson's contribution to the country music genre is immeasurable and it is here that you have an opportunity to read reviews of Gene Watson's albums, as published in 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.

All reviews have been reproduced with the kind permission of Country Music People.

'Because You Believed in Me & Beautiful Country' (Hux Records, 2005)
 Country Music People Review, October 2005

This CMP review by Craig Baguley, which was published in the February 2006 issue of Country Music People, is reproduced here with the kind permission of the publishers.

Album Review by Craig Baguley
(***** out of 5)

'Two things about Gene Watson.  Number one, he's indisputably a country singer's singer, number two, during his heyday his albums were riddled with fabulous songs.  This 2-CD set, combining the mid '70s releases, 'Because You Believed in Me' and 'Beautiful Country', proves both points.

Watson had already scored hugely in 1975 with the sensual 'Where Love Begins' from Nashville-based Canadian tunesmith Ray Griff, and he continued to extol the latter's writing talent. Here, on 'Because You Believed in Me', there are no less than four Griff compositions.

'How Good A Bad Woman Feels' is a marvellous song that was incredibly denied single status.  Its theme of taking refuge in a honky tonk's girl's arms was surely not considered too risqué, particularly as Griff's more directly suggestive 'Her Body Couldn't Keep You Off My Mind' was pitched to radio, although it received a lukewarm response, peaking outside the Top 50.

'Hey Louella' is a fun up-tempo thing, while 'And Then You Came Along', the final Griff entry, is just perfect, with its memorable sing-along chorus.  That Griff, who enjoyed several hit singles as an artist, failed to maintain the momentum in Nashville and returned back north was a great loss to Music City.

The major hit here was Joe Allen's tender love song, 'I Don't Need A Thing At All', which Watson imbues with such sensitivity and soul it must rank as one of his greatest performances, if not country music's.  Also a biggie was Dallas Harms' 'Cowboys Don't Get Lucky All The Time', with its droll tale of a singer whose advances get him no further than sleeping alone on the couch...

But it's not just the hits that make these two albums remarkable.  The standard of the material is first-class throughout with a zero percentage of makeweights.  Larry Gatlin's tortuous 'Bitter They Are, Harder They Fall' is simply wonderful, and the wordplay in 'She caught me lying, then she caught a train, then I caught a fever walking home in the rain' is worthy of the great American lyricists.

There's so much more, including an absolute cracker from Hank Cochran, 'He Little Thinged Her Out Of My Arms', in which the protagonist, with all his wealth, is usurped in his woman's affections by the simple offerings of a competitor-in-love.

Of course, Gene Watson has the vocal mastery to make the most tedious of material listenable, so when the songs are as magnificent as these, the result is country music perfection'.

Craig Baguley
Country Music People
February 2006

Gene Watson CMP Album Reviews Index