The caption is part of a quote by Willie upon being inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1993 - the remainder is "so I went ahead and dressed up, just in case." The rest of what he said at his acceptance speech is there too and it's classic Willie. Truer words have never been spoken when it comes to the Hall of Fame and its "overly careful" approach to inductions.

All that appears on the inside cover of the 5.5" x 10" cardboard folder that houses the two CDs in this box set. A sleeve contains an 18-page booklet which presents historical liner notes by Joseph F. Laredo, numerous photographs of Willie in his pre-teen and teen years, including one with his mother in 1950, another with sister Bobbie Lee and a band that included Ira "Pop" Nelson, one with Joe Massey and The Frontiersmen while in his early 20s, and several LP cover reproductions.

The full title of the set is "Willie Nelson - The Early Years - The Complete Liberty Recordings plus more." With the notes there is a complete discography of his Liberty singles and LPs plus complete details on the 61 selections.

Hear and thrill to the versions of Crazy and Hello Walls as they were heard by Patsy Cline and Faron Young before each recorded the biggest hits of their careers, marvel at his easy, almost narrative renditions of Funny How Time Slips Away and The Part Where I Cry, the duets with Shirley Collie on tracks 23, 24, 26, 27, 28, 29, and 30, including several takes on Columbus Stockade Blues.

On disc 2 my particular favourites are You Took My Happy Away, Roly Poly, Half A Man, Blue Must Be The Color Of The Blues, the old standard Am I Blue, and the Hank Williams tune There'll Be No Teardrops Tonight.

This came out in 1994 [about when I got mine], not from Capitol as shown above but, rather, from Liberty through BMG. It's one I play over and over as you will too if you are a Willie Nelson fan. At this writing only used copies are available, but it is hoped that the powers-that-be will arrange for a re-release as soon as possible.

Ignore that other 2-star review. This is history and it would get ten stars from me if they went that high.

There aren't a lot of country "hits" here ("Willingly",a duet with Shirley Collie, #10-1962, "Touch Me" #7-1962, "Half a Man" was #25-1963, and "I Hope So" scraped in at #36-1969) but Allison blames that on mismanagement in the liners: "The first album worked [AND THEN I WROTE] because it sounded like him." Allison left the label shortly after signing him and Willie's new producer Tommy Allsup smothered Willie's voice in "Nashville Sound" strings and backing vocals.

Whether this was because he felt that sound was more "commercial" (String-flooded Eddy Arnold and Jim Reeves records were big then...) or because Allsup thought Willie's voice was weak and he wanted to hide it depends on what version of history you want to believe. (Willie thinks the latter..) This is how the outlaw sounded before he made his "jailbreak" in Austin.

The 2 CD set includes 15 previously unreleased tracks (all but 4 are alternate takes/mixes) for the diehards. As far as liners go, you get a 10 page barebones bio with discography. They tell the bare bones story of Willie's move from Vancouver to Nashville but it's 3rd person..no new quotes or song by song commentary from Willie himself.

HIGHLIGHTS:
"Wake Me When it's Over" is a nice honky-tonk weeper (though I could do without the ooh-ing female backing vocals). Hearing "Crazy" in its first rendition is sort of spooky: Patsy Cline slavishly copied Willie down to the phrasing in her hit. I realize "Willingly" was the hit duet but for my money Willie and labelmate Shirley Collie's "Is this my destiny?" is a more compelling song. On disc 2,"How Long is Forever (Version #2)" finds Willie questioning an on-again,off-again lover. Willie croons "Let me Talk to You" over a whisper-soft pedal steel and hi-hat. The poor boy, rich girl tale of "River Boy (Overdubbed version)" is the rare tune that succeeds because of the flourishes...it doesn't sound "finished" without the strings and other touches.

LOWS:
"Hello Walls" and "Funny How Time Slips Away" are hacked to bits thanks to the cooing background singers heard here. They're easy listening schmaltz. "There Goes a Man" is a great lyric (Willie regretting stealing another man's woman..empathizing with his loss) but the band can't begin to follow his vocal. "Together" has a horribly simplistic lyric and the xylophone part makes it sound even more like children's music. The cocktail lounge vibe of "Am I Blue?" may be the downright nadir of this set. And as far as the oozing strings go on "There'll Be No Teardrops Tonight", are you SURE Hank done it that way? (Sorry...the joke was too easy..)

BOTTOM LINE:
There are a few great tunes here but most are mediocre if pleasant and a few are outright countrypolitan clunkers. For all the bellowing some country fans make about bland modern "pop country", some of the songs on Disc 2 sound like Mantovani with a little bit of twang. The packaging is alright but nothing special.

If you're new to Willie, do NOT start here. Try out 16 BIGGEST HITS to get your first taste and move on to individual albums next (STARDUST and RED HEADED STRANGER are suggested.) This box is not for everyone.