Waylon Jennings - What Goes Around Comes Around (USSM10904119) '1979/2015

Tracks list

Tracklist
---------
01. I Aint Living Long Like This
02. What Goes Around
03. Another Mans Fool
04. I Got the Train Sittin Waitin
05. Its the Worlds Gone Crazy (Cotillion)
06. Ivory Tower
07. Out Among the Stars
08. Come with Me
09. If You See Her
10. Old Love, New Eyes


When What Goes Around Comes Around was released in late 1979, Waylon Jennings
was riding a hot streak of seven number one albums in a row. This didnt reach
the top spot only because it was shut out by the phenomenal crossover success of
Kenny Rogers Kenny, so it sat at number two for 14 weeks -- so, even if it didnt
really reach the top of the charts, it came close enough to count. The generally
accepted conventional wisdom about Jennings late-70s/early-80s records is that
they pale in comparison to his early-70s records, which is true on the surface
but does albums like What Goes Around a disservice. Yes, the neon-and-laser
studded cover of this record is ridiculous, but the music isnt splashy and the
album, as a whole, is more cohesive than Ive Always Been Crazy, even if it isnt
as weighty as Ol Waylon. Reading between the lines, its easy to hear Jennings
getting a little weary under the hot spotlight of stardom -- theres the storming
opener of Rodney Crowells I Aint Living Long Like This, which easily became an
anthem for the waning days of outlaw, but theres an underlying sense of sadness
that runs through the record, particularly the ballad-heavy second half. That
Jennings doesnt contribute many originals - he just co-writes the silly but
charming vaudeville of Its the Worlds Gone Crazy (Cotillion) with Shel
Silverstein - but that doesnt matter because the choice of songs is strong,
displaying that Waylon still hadnt lost his expert ear for songs that suited his
styles. True, it isnt a set of stone-cold classics that compares with Honky Tonk
Heroes, but I Aint Living Long Like This is iconic, Come With Me is moving,
Another Mans Fool is a sly barroom number, and his take on Mickey Newburys If
You See Her is beautiful. Since Waylons first-rate work is so good and so
bountiful, its easy to overlook the relatively modest pleasures of a record like
this, but only a fool would dismiss it out of hand, because theres a lot of good
music here - more than enough to justify his continued hot streak. ~ Stephen
Thomas Erlewine

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