Transitional mid-60s albums from Waylon Jennings

This pair of RCA albums, Love of the Common People from 1967 and Hangin’ On from 1968, finds Waylon Jennings in an artistic middle-ground between earlier work controlled by RCA staff producers and his later independence. Producer Chet Atkins still keeps the tempos and volume staid, the production clean and the backing choruses smooth, but Jennings pushes on the instrumentation and song choices, and often sings with a huskier, more emotive voice than previously heard. Though the approach has its successes, in many cases it’s neither fish nor fowl; neither the carefully manicured sound of Atkins, nor the free-style rock-energized country of Jennings’ outlaw period.

Love of the Common People didn’t launch any hit singles, though there were several tracks that could have been successful. The B-side title song has a rich history, having been recorded as pop, R&B, reggae and brought to its greatest prominence as synthpop by Paul Young in the 1980s. The lyric of poverty, family, hope and faith is lifted higher and higher by four key modulations and memorable horn stabs. Mel Tillis’ “Ruby, Don’t Take Your Love to Town” would be a worldwide for Kenny Rogers, but here it’s misproduced with a sprightly acoustic guitar and cooing female chorus that fail to convey the lyric’s heartbreaking desperation. There are many fine album sides, including Jim Glaser’s clear-eyed opener “Money Cannot Make the Man,” Jennings late-50s composition “Young Widow Brown,” and Ted Harris’ wounded folk-song, “The Road.” Jennings oversings the Beatles’ “You’ve Got to Hide Your Love Away” and the saccharine pop chorus on “Don’t Waste Your Time” suggests why he had to get out of Chet Atkins’ grip.

Hangin’ On gave Jennings his biggest single to-date with Harlan Howard’s “The Chokin’ Kind,” setting up a string of five Top 10’s stretching through 1968. The version that was released to the public was actually a re-recording, waxed after Jennings expressed his displeasure with the Harlan Howard/Jerry Reed produced original. The original version was released decades later on Bear Family’s The Journey: Destiny’s Child. With each album Jennings’ artistic convictions were getting stronger, as the broad range of material recorded here indicates. Songs from Roy Orbison, Bobby Bare and Roger Miller are complemented by little-known originals. Orbison’s “The Crowd” retains its overwrought operatic drama and sounds more like an Orbison cover rather than a Jennings performance, but Jennings’ own “Julie” provides a subtle flipside to Porter Waggoner’s “Rubber Room” in its portrait of self-inflicted romantic destruction and madness.

Love of the Common People was reissued by Buddha in 1999, but has been available only for digital download the past few years. The original CD reissue’s bonus track “Walk on Out of My Mind” is dropped from this two-fer. Hangin’ On makes its domestic CD debut here. Collectors’ Choice’s two-fer includes an eight-page booklet with full-panel reproductions of both album covers – front and back – and new liner notes by Colin Escott. You can find this same material, and a whole lot more, on Bear Family’s The Journey: Destiny’s Child, but unless you’re planning to soak up Jennings’ entire catalog, this domestic two-fer is the best way to introduce yourself to Jennings’ pre-outlaw years. [©2010 hyperbolium dot com]