First, if you are determined to buy a Willie Nelson box set, this is the one to get. It has most of his biggest hits and is a good value.

That said, I really can't recommend this set. The problem is, Willie Nelson, perhaps more than any other artist, puts together some truly incredible concept albums. With this set, you might get one or two of the big hits from each album, but you won't get the mood or tone of the overall project. What you miss is the best part of Willie Nelson.

Though it is certainly more expensive, I recommend that you buy Willie albums individually. Here is just a little of what you'd miss if you get this set instead:

This set starts in 1975 with a couple of tracks from the "Red Headed Stranger" album. Before that, Willie spent several years with RCA. While Chet Atkins and company could never figure out how to produce Willie Nelson, this was still a very productive time. Despite limited recording success, he was one of Nashville's most prodigous songwriters. All of that occurred before the "Red..." breakthrough. Also during that time was Willie's western swing influenced "Shotgun Willie" album, one of his better ones. "Red Headed Stranger" itself is Willie's best known concept album. It's about a preacher in the wild west who kills his cheating wife and manages to find redemption by the end of the album. "Blue Eyes Crying In the Rain" is a great song, one of his best, but if you don't hear the whole album, you miss so much.

Though you wouldn't know it from radio airplay, Willie has done some of his best work AFTER this set was produced. "Still is Still Moving to Me", the last song in this set, is from his "Across the Borderline" album. That one was something of a comeback album, after several years of productive, but less inspiring work. It included a duet with Bob Dylan, covers of Paul Simon and Lyle Lovett songs and new ones from Willie himself. It has only gotten better from there. Both "Teatro" and "Spirit" were great concept albums. "Night and Day" was the first all-instrumental album of his career, and then you have "Milk Cow Blues" which paired Willie with some outstanding blues artists on some of his and their songs. And his latest album, "The Rainbow Connection" is an interesting project in itself. It started out as a children's album, but diverged from there and it includes our first chance to hear Willie's daughter Amy sing.

In short, this is a very good "Greatest Hits" style set. The problem is Willie's music really doesn't fit that method. For the real Willie Nelson, pick up his individual albums one by one. You won't be sorry.

This boxed set is a repackaging (at a lower price) of an earlier boxed set. Although I have the original set (which opens like a hardback book, with the CD's inside the covers), the track listing and sequencing is identical. As far as the music is concerned, it clearly demonstrates that Willie could sing many different types of song. Nevertheless, most of them fall into two main categories - the country songs and the classic oldies from the Great American Songbook.

The songs from the Great American Songbook were originally released on his albums Stardust, Somewhere over the rainbow, Without a song, What a wonderful world and an album he did with Leon Russell (One for the road) - five albums that Willie recorded which were devoted entirely to these songs. The songs chosen for this collection include Blue skies, Georgia on my mind, Summertime, Mona Lisa, Harbor lights, Without a song and Ole buttermilk sky. Most (if not all) of the original albums from which these tracks are taken are still available. There is also a double-CD, All the songs I've loved before, which is dominated by these songs, only including a few country songs.

On this collection, there are plenty of country songs, including Willie's covers of Blue eyes crying in the rain, If you've got the money I've got the time and City of New Orleans. The middle of the three CD's is devoted to his duets with many different singers. You could fill several CD's with Willie's duets without including any guest twice, but the ones chosen for this selection offer an excellent representation of this aspect of his career.

Some people say that a collection like this does not Willie Nelson justice, because so many of his albums were themed. My answer to that is that this provides a great sampling of his career. After playing this a few times, you can decide which aspect of his music you like best and explore that in greater depth.

I am not a big fan of country music, but this box set is much more than Country! When I was in college, I had a roommate who made me listen to this music. Discovering the sound of Willie Nelson was one of the most valuable things I learned there. Willie Nelson has a sound that is at the heart of every American. Both somber and triumphant, Nelson writes and sings the songs of all those who have been overlooked, those who have built our great nation. If you like Bob Dylan(and I LOVE Dylan), this box set will reveal another hero for the forgotten. Buy it NOW!

This collection does a good job of bringing together the

songs of Willie's commerical success. It, however, does

not to justice to Willie's overall career.

Willie's best albums have generally been concept albums

The first disk is pretty good. It covers most of Willie's

The 2nd disc should have contained just the best of Willie's

The 3rd disc is okay. There are some great songs (City of

Overall, this collection is great for the marginal Willie

This is a fabulous collection of Willie, perhaps the best ever. He sometimes speaks in the voice of God..wise, funny and sad...Great buy