by William Ruhlmann
This European compilation drawn from Kris Kristofferson's recordings for Monument Records in the 1970s and early '80s is oddly put together. It does contain among its 16 tracks five of the singer/songwriter's six big hits -- &Help Me Make It Through the Night,& &For the Good Times,& &Loving Her Was Easier (Than Anything I'll Ever Do Again),& &Sunday Mornin' Comin' Down,& and &Why Me& -- but it leaves out his best-known song, &Me and Bobby McGee.& The rest of the tracks are a random selection, mostly from Kristofferson's earlier, more popular albums, though the B-side of his final Monument single, &The Bandits of Beverly Hills,& originally released in 1981, is also included. Collectors should note that there is one song, &He's My Buddy,& a humorous tribute to Kristofferson's friends and bandmates, that did not appear on any American album or single and presumably was an international B-side. The package is shoddily put together. Four of the songs listed on the back cover of the CD are not on the album at all: the sixth track is &Help Me,& not &If You Don't Like Hank Williams&; the 13th track is &Billy Dee,& not &Shake Hands With the Devil&; the 14th track is &The Taker,& not &Shadows of Your Mind& (there is no Kristofferson song of this title, though &Shadows of Her Mind& turned up as a bonus track on a reissue of Kristofferson in 2001); and the 16th track is &Josie,& not &Daddy's Song.&