Waylon Jennings-”Heartaches By The Number And Other Favorites”
The story of Waylon Jennings’ rise in country music is well known. Early on, he was taking traditional country, western swing, folk, and rock, trying to find a perfect mixture, while also battling the constraints of the Nashville establishment. He would eventually find that perfect blend, once he left Nashville for Texas, and was one of the first to show us what an awesome result could come from mixing the Allman Brothers and Hank Williams, while throwing in a little Bob Wills on the side. Waylon was a true original.
Today’s album is a 1972 release from RCA’s Camden series. Back in the day, RCA would take older recordings from it’s artists, repackage them and release them on RCA Camden, usually at discount prices; say $2, as opposed to the $5 that the new releases would command. “Heartaches By The Number And Other Country Favorites” is a somewhat uneven collection of early Waylon work, but it does present a nice overview of the aforementioned search of Jennings’ early career. The album does include a couple of his early hit singles, and is culled from Jennings’ “Leavin’ Town”, “Sings Ol’ Harlan”, and “Jewels” albums.
This album contains four tracks from the “Sings Ol’ Harlan” album of 1967. “Heartaches By The Number” and “Foolin’ Around” are decent covers of the respective Ray Price and Buck Owens hits, but he badly misses on another Buck Owens classic, “I’ve Got A Tiger By The Tail”. Meanwhile, his version of “Busted” will also please Jennings fans who might have not heard it, previously, but don’t expect a similar version to Johnny Cash. Waylon’s version has more in common with that of Ray Charles.
The 1966 “Leavin’ Town” album provided four tracks, as well, including what would be Waylon’s first top ten hit, “(That’s What You Get) For Lovin’ Me”. Of his 92 top forty country hits, this still ranks as one of my Waylon Jennings favorites; it’s easily the best song on the album. Also from that release is another Jennings hit, “Time To Bum Again”, another outstanding track from the Jennings library. “Leavin’ Town” and “You’re Gonna Wonder About Me” are both good examples of Jennings’ folk influence that was often apparent on his early discs.
The final of the nine tracks, originally appeared on the 1968 “Jewels” album, a cover of Johnny Cash’s “Folsom Prison Blues”. Alright, but nothing special.
Surprisingly, this album has been available on CD, though not currently (except used), except as a package with another original Camden release, “The One And Only”. I was also a bit surprised to find several used copies of the album on Ebay, as well, most selling around $3-5, though there was a sealed copy for $15, and even an 8-track tape (can you believe it?) for around $2.
Ratings-wise, I give this album a 3 out of 5. Overall, it’s a decent album, with the highlights easily being the two hit singles. This is one of those albums that if you find it for a few cents in a garage sale or used record store, buy it. But the best thing would be to find copies of the original albums that were used to make this album.
It has always puzzled me that Collectibles (and some other labels) would do two-fers of RCA Camden albums, instead of the original RCA releases. Camden reduced the price of the albums by also reducing the amount of music – when RCA Victor albums had 12 songs, the Camdens were ten songs. When RCA Victor was down to ten songs, Camden had nine or eight songs. A two-fer with 19 two-minute songs isn’t much of a bargain
This set has some hard to find material so it is worth having but see if you can find a better collection first
Anytime one thinks about Waylen Jennings, they think about the duets with Willie Nelson and his 1970′s/early 80′s country outlaw days. Of course, this was when Waylon had the majority of his hits.
But, many people forget his early days and his connection with Buddy Holly’s band. Waylon played the tragic Winter Dance Party. When Buddy Holly, Richie Valens and the Big Bopper lost their lives in the plane crash, afterwards.
Waylon gratiously gave up his seat on the plane, to the Big Bopper, who had a cold. The bus was freezing cold, but Waylon didn’t mind.
Waylon was just trying to help a friend, not realizing the upcoming tragedy.
I’m one of those people, who loved many of Waylon’s early singles. Song you never heard many jocks play, over the years. Anytime, you tuned into a classic show, you heard Waylon’s outlaw music.
If you’re a Waylon outlaw music fan and you’re not familiar with his 1960′s classics, you should really check into his early singles.
Songs like: “Green River”, “The Chokin’ Kind”, Only Daddy That’ll Walk the Line”, “Walk On Out of My Mind” and one of my personal Waylon early favorites, “Brown Eyed handsome Man”.
Rest in Peace, Waylon. You’re playing again, with Buddy’s Band.