Greatest Hits (& Some That Will Be) [Bonus Tracks]

1	Railroad Lady 2:40
2	Heartaches of a Fool 2:31
3	Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain 2:20
4	Whiskey River 3:33
5	Good Hearted Woman 2:55
6	Georgia on My Mind 4:21
7	All of Me 3:55
8	If You've Got the Money (I've Got the Time) 2:05
9	Look What Thoughts Will Do 2:43
10	Remember Me (When the Candlelights Are Gleaming) 2:52
11	Uncloudy Day 4:40
12	Mamas Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up to Be Cowboys 3:28
13	My Heroes Have Always Been Cowboys 3:05
14	Help Me Make It Through the Night 4:00
15	Angel Flying Too Close to the Ground 4:29
16	I'd Have to Be Crazy 3:27
17	Faded Love / Ray Price 3:51
18	On the Road Again 2:35
19	Midnight Rider 2:52
20	Heartbreak Hotel / Leon Russell 3:01
21	If You Could Touch Her at All 3:29
22	Till I Gain Control Again 5:53
23	Stay All Night (Stay a Little Longer) 3:25

Barnes & Noble

Originally issued in 1981 as a double-vinyl LP, Greatest Hits (& Some That Will Be) didn't quite live up to the parenthetical part of its title -- only the bristling ballad "Heartaches of a Fool" became a charted single. But that technicality proved a moot point, since the album itself spent 4 weeks atop the chart and 371 weeks traversing its ranks. Comprised of cuts from 11 of the 13 albums Willie had then cut for Columbia, this collection offers up the silver-maned outlaw in all of his stylistic modes, but more important, it is driven by certifiable classics in any style: "Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain," "Angel Flying Too Close to the Ground," "Mamas Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up to Be Cowboys," "My Heroes Have Always Been Cowboys," and "On the Road Again." Just as crucial are a live version of "Whiskey River"; a version of "Help Me Make It Through the Night" that features its writer, Kris Kristofferson, on background vocals; and a beautiful duet with honky-tonkin' compadre Ray Price on Bob Wills's "Faded Love," with Crystal Gayle on harmonies. On a stunning live version of Rodney Crowell's elegant "Till I Gain Control Again," Nelson finds hidden wells of emotion buried in the lyrics -- and ballast from the gospel-like harmonies of a female chorus. The original 20-song track list is supplemented by 3 bonus cuts, including an exquisite, jazz-inflected, string-laden version of Gerald Marks's pop evergreen "All of Me," one of Willie's earliest forays into the classic American songbook. Greatest Hits (& Some That Will Be) reveals an artist fully formed and comfortable in his own skin, making for a listen that's hard to beat, no matter the genre. David McGee

All Music Guide

Greatest Hits (& Some That Will Be) was released in the fall of 1981, summarizing a remarkable seven-year stretch of extraordinary success that began when the iconoclastic Red Headed Stranger, Willie Nelson's first album for Columbia, which became a smash hit not long after its 1975 release. From that point on, Nelson became an American popular music icon and a fixture at the top of the country charts, something that was all the more remarkable because he rarely played it safe: he sang pop standards, jammed like the Grateful Dead, recorded tributes to heroes like Lefty Frizzell, and did duet albums with both mentor Ray Price, and fellow maverick Leon Russell. It was a far-ranging, unpredictable body of work, with each individual album retaining its own distinctive character, and Greatest Hits manages to pull off the nifty trick of making sense of these records in two records (now one CD) and 20 songs. Sequenced like a set list, not according to strict chronological order, the collection manages to hit all the major singles, but does so judiciously, making sure each of the records and musical moods get equal pay. So, there is no overdose of Stardust material, and even album tracks like a moving version of "Look What Thoughts Will Do" get a hearing. Consequently, this Greatest Hits is far more than a mere recitation of familiar items. It is something much better -- a rounded, full-bodied portrait of Nelson in all of his idiosyncratic splendor, which is about as much as could be asked from a hits collection. And that's why it's worth having, not just as an introduction, but just as a splendid listen on its own terms. [This version of the album includes bonus material.] Stephen Thomas Erlewine