A Music Album Review of ‘Heroes’ by Willie Nelson

On the 14^th of May, the album ‘Heroes’ by Willie Nelson was released. It was produced by Buddy Cannon under the Legacy record label. Originally they had provocatively titled it ‘Roll Me up and Smoke Me When I Die‘ but later changed their mind. The songwriter behind the project had his biggest moment when he covered ‘Crazy’ by Pasty Cline. Now the so called ‘Country Music Grandmaster’ is indulging his personal tastes and preferences.

There is something distinguished about the album ‘Heroes’ by Willie Nelson. In this review we felt that the veteran of music had gone out of his way to ensure that there was something for all his fans. We picked out ‘The Scientist’ by Coldplay in which his interpretative powers are at their best. There is something nervous, fragile and tense about the delivery. However his efforts are less successful in ‘Come on up to the House’. Here you get the feeling that the version has been seriously sanitized almost as if to prepare it for its commercial outing.

The strongest piece in the album is ‘Roll Me Up and Smoke Me When I die’. It is a defiant defense of drug use. In this number the singer collaborated with Kris Kristofferson and Snoop Dogg. Amazingly ‘Tha Doggfather’ is not rapping but rather crooning. This is a major triumph for Willie Nelson who will surely go down in history as the man who was finally able to halt the rapping antics of Snoop Dogg, albeit on a single album. He is a Country Music singer who will collaborate with anyone that takes his fancy including Waylon Jennings and Sinead O’Connor. Willie has even worked with the sensuous Julio Iglesias.

The latest album is wide ranging. You are taken across a journey that has included the finest moments of the singer and his collaborators. ‘Heroes’ by Willie Nelson is worthy of the highest respect even if first appearances may suggest that it is the indulgent project of an ageing star. The voice is great and the musical discipline is impeccable.

I absolutely adore the fact that Snoop Dogg has to sing for the first time in a very long time. One of the covers was slightly tepid when compared to the rest of the album. However this is only a minor complaint.