Merle Haggard: Going where the lonely go; That's the way love goes CD Track Listing

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Merle Haggard Going where the lonely go; That's the way love goes (1982)
This S&P Complilation Released March 15, 2005\n\nGoing Where The Lonely Go LP Originally Released 1982\nEpic CD Originally Released 1987 ???\n\nThat's The Way Love Goes LP Originally Released 1983\nRemastered DCC CD Edition Released February 22, 2000\n\nAMG EXPERT REVIEW: (Going Where The Lonely Go) Recorded after his Columbia hit Big City, Going Where the Lonely Go is one of Merle Haggard's most criminally overlooked recordings. Recorded in 1982, the vibe is one of Haggard's most laid-back albums, co-produced with Lewis Talley, one of Nashville's kings of understatement (not that there are many). Haggard wrote over half the album, the rest comprised of two songs by his then-wife, Leona Williams; a co-write with Little Jimmy Dickens; Willie Nelson's "Half a Man"; and Jimmy Davis' "Nobody's Darlin' but Mine." But it is Haggard's songs that make this a stellar outing. The title track is a piece of pure country poetry. A painfully slow 4/4 time signature fronted by a bassline, adorned by a three-chord pattern, and filled by slippery piano lines, Haggard sings, "Rollin' with the flow/Goin' where the lonely go/Anywhere the lights are low/Goin' where the lonely go/Makin' up things to do/Not runnin' in all directions tryin' to find you/I'm just rollin' with the flow/Goin' where the lonely go/And I've got to keep goin'/I can't lay down/Sleep won't hardly come/Where there's loneliness all around/I've got to keep goin'/Travellin' down this lonesome road/I'll be rollin' with the flow/Goin' where the lonely go." As Haggard gets to the bridge, a steel guitar and lead guitar trade lines as strings fall in from the edges and cascade around his gorgeous, bluesy voice. The next track, "Why Am I Drinkin'?," is pure honky tonk blues, full of heartbreak and resignation when he asks the question, "Is love just another word for memory?/And is love just another word for pain?/The question is love really the answer/And if so why is love so much to blame/If love is what we're really after, then why am I runnin' away?/And why am I drinkin'/Why am I hurtin' this way?" The guitars and fiddles wend their way around Norm Hamlett's gorgeous pedal steel and drive home the desolate edge in the song. "I Won't Give up My Train," another country ballad, is particularly poignant, as Haggard addresses the metaphor of his life in music via a brakeman who is married and probably won't be for long, because his wife is tired of always waiting for him. Hargus "Pig" Robbins' piano is unmistakable as it ushers in the a narrative of paradox, contradiction, and loss. When Hag sings, "The baby came in April in Chicago in the pourin' rain/With 12 black cars and empty tank/With three box cars and an empty sack of mail," we can hear Jimmy Rogers in the grain of his voice, calling from out in the freight yards of history. Other notables are the truly moving "Shopping for Dresses (With No One to Wear Them)," written with Dickens, and "For All I Know," another broken-love song from the other side of love's great divide. Haggard and the Strangers were one of the tightest and most sophisticated bands in country music, inspired by the elaborate arrangements of Bob Wills' band, to the point where Haggard's music from this period transcends country music in its appeal and elegance. It's a pity this one didn't get the notice it deserved -- it's a masterpiece. -- Thom Jurek \n\nAMG EXPERT REVIEW: (That's The Way Love Goes) That's the Way Love Goes is another decent collection of laid-back ballads that lets Haggard display some of the full range of his vocal talents, from the jazzy pop of "The Last Boat of the Day" to the poignant lyric of "What Am I Gonna Do (With the Rest of My Life)." A cover of Lefty Fizzell's "That's the Way Love Goes" ranks among the great Haggard ballads. -- Matt Fink\n\nAmazon.com Editorial Review (That's The Way Love Goes)\nHere's one of the great, lost Haggard albums, originally released in 1983 and telling his side of the story of his then-recent divorce from Leona Williams. The tone is bleak, funereal, without a single uptempo stomp to break up the succession of one beautiful, heartbreaking ballad after another. Highlights are "What Am I Gonna Do (With the Rest of My Life)," which suggests that only time can heal these wounds and time can't move quickly enough; the deeply ambivalent "Love Will Find You"; and the title track, one of Lefty Frizzell's most agonizing and resigned deathbed compositions. Haggard ends his remake with a weary, defeated moan that sums up the whole album and all his contradictory feelings of pain, pride, defiance, pessimism, futility, and disgust. The crack band is more Western than country, effortlessly supporting the mood of the songs. But there's no drawing attention away from the star, whose rich, stunning performances make the case for him as the stylist of his era. --John Morthland \n\nAmazon.com Customer Review (That's The Way Love Goes)\nBest album ever for the Hag, December 12, 2001 \nReviewer: spraydoc from Yorkton, Saskatchewan, Canada \nI bought this when it came out, and just recently fired up the old turntable and gave it a listen. It doesn't have an era, it's timeless, just as magic as the first time I heard it. I'm talking the whole album here... there is not a weak point on it. The instrumentation reflects off that great throat of Merle's and it really " Must have been Magic " . This album has more feelings overall than any other of Merle's... now I know there are singles, and some albums have numerous songs that come close, but not the whole package. Buy this one if you've got any emotion at all!! \n\nAmazon.com Customer Review (That's The Way Love Goes)\nMy Personal Haggard Favorite, July 15, 2001 \nReviewer: chatfish from Indianola, MS USA \nIt's a mystery why more cuts from this 1983 album don't make it onto the many "Greatest Hits" collections that proliferate like kudzu. I think it's the most personal and introspective of Haggard's many recordings, and his rendition of the title track is a country classic. I remember going back and forth to my old turntable playing it over and over on vinyl. "Someday When things Are Good" is another classic. Come to think of it, there's no weak material on this one and, to my mind, it's better than some of the "Merle's Greatest" collections. \n\nAmazon.com Customer Review (That's The Way Love Goes)\nGreat Reissue, September 7, 2000 \nReviewer: Michael Carley from San Joaquin Valley, CA \nIt's good to see this CD finally reissued. I hope they will do the same with others from Hag's catalog.\n\nThe two hit songs from this CD are "Someday when things are good" and the title track, "That's the way love goes". The latter won Hag his only Grammy, ironically, for a song he didn't write--it's an old Lefty Frizzell tune. \n\nThe other tracks are good as well. "Carryin' Fire" is the closest thing to an erotic song you'll hear from Hag. "Last boat of the day" is a sweet song about a long distance love affair. \n\nThe mood of this CD is not as downbeat or pessimistic as the Amazon review would lead you to believe. Rather, I would describe it as bittersweet. Hag was writing and singing about the end of his marriage, it's true, but it's from the perspective of someone who has been through it all before, and seems to know he will go through it again. The title track sets the mood with that theme, and the rest of the album supports it. \n\nHalf.com Album Credits (That's The Way Love Goes)\nMerle Haggard, Producer\nRay Baker, Producer\nRay Baker, Producer\n\n\nAlbum Notes\nPersonnel: Merle Haggard (vocals, guitar); Red Lane (acoustic guitar); Roy Nichols, Reggie Young, Gregg Gailbraith, Dave Kirby, Grady Martin (guitar); Norm Hamlet (steel guitar); Don Markham (horns); Terry McMillan (harmonica); Dennis Hromek (bass); Mike Leetch (electric bass); Gene Chrisman, Kenny Malone (drums); Judy Rodman, Mary Fiedler, Roger Cook, Bobby Wood (background vocals). \n\nEngineers: Rick McCollister, Ron Reynolds.\n\nRecorded at Woodland Sound Studio & Eleven-Eleven Sound Studio, Nashville, Tennessee.\n\nDigitally remastered by Steve Hoffman.
This country cd contains 20 tracks and runs 68min 13sec.
Freedb: 3e0ffb14

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