Glenn Fink | Arlington, VA United States | 01/04/2004
(5 out of 5 stars)
"Even though another review here says it well, I just feel a need to add one myself because this album is too good to only have 2 reviews. This was the first disc I ever heard of Willie Nelson back about 25 years ago, and it has to be one of his best. This is a bit more lively than Red Headed Stranger, an excellent and understated album made the year before this one, but the same instrumentation with a few more drums - a very few more. This is very mellow except for the Lefty Frizzell track "If You've Got The Money" and the "Night Life" portion of the final track. But this is an uplifting album. Willie does a fine job with all the songs, making them all sound like his own (4 songs are cover songs, but they're well chosen).One of the highlights on here is the Medley (Funny How Time Slips Away/Crazy/NightLife) where he does 3 of his self-penned standards at once. Willie still plays this medley on a pretty regular basis in concert and the end has some nice guitar work."
A great album from the seventies
Peter Durward Harris | Leicester England | 05/08/2004
(5 out of 5 stars)
"Willie has recorded so many great albums that it is easy to forget how good some of them are. This one is mellow except for two songs. One of these is a revival of the old Lefty Frizzell classic, If you've got the money I've got the time. The other is Night life, the final segment of a medley of songs (the others being Funny how time slips away and Crazy) that Willie wrote in the early sixties and which helped establish his name as a songwriter.The set opens with That lucky old sun, a song that provided Frankie Laine with an American number one hit in 1949. Amazing grace has been covered by countless singers but Willie's version is just what you expect - excellent. A penny for your thoughts (an original song) is very sad. The healing hands of time, a ballad about recovering from sadness, is a classic. Thanks again, I'd have to be crazy and the title track are all excellent.Perhaps this is not Willie's best album but it has a little of everything - pop oldies, country oldies, re-recordings of his own oldies and original songs. It definitely belongs in the collection of any Willie Nelson fan."
THE SOUND IN YOUR MIND-POIGNANT AND LOVELY
M. George | Huxley, Iowa USA | 06/02/2007
(5 out of 5 stars)
"I purchased the 33 LP back in the 1970s. I can say that this album has some of the most poignant and beautiful renditions of The Healing Hands Of Time,That Lucky Old Sun,A Penny For Your Thoughts, and The Sound In Your Mind.The others were good too.I cannot say enough about this album."
MY FAVORITE WILLIE NELSON ALBUM ! (and I've been listening t
ol' nuff n' den sum | the Virginia coast, USA | 03/14/2008
(5 out of 5 stars)
"I don't know if it's the medley or the memories. But The Sound In Your Mind (1976) is my favorite Willie Nelson album of 'em all. Yeah, I've got a sentimental connection here. This was my first Willie Nelson album, one that an old friend of mine had turned me on to and given me back in the late 1970s. It's one of Willie's very best albums, if not the best.
It opens with the lazy 1949 Frankie Laine hit That Lucky Old Sun (Just Rolls Around Heaven All Day) which is followed by an energetic honky-tonk version of Lefty Frizzell's If You've Got The Money (I've Got The Time). Then Nelson goes wonderfully slow and somber for three songs.
A Penny For Your Thoughts:
And it hurts me so to see the sorrow written on your face
And I hope and pray that some tomorrow I can take his place
Healing Hands Of Time:
Already I've reached mountain peaks, and I've just begun to climb
I'll get over you by clinging to those healing hands of time
Thanks Again:
I searched and found heaven and then lost it again
You were mine for a little while, so thanks again
The bluesy love song I'd Have To Be Crazy is one of the better songs here, and brightens the mood with a gospel-like feel. Willie does a laid-back version of Amazing Grace, and the spiritual feeling isn't lost at all.
The album closes with what I consider to be the highlight of Willie Nelson's recording career, a medley of three of his classics, Funny How Time Slips Away/Crazy/Night Life. It's bluesy and boozy, includes plenty of worldly emotional substance, and features some of Willie's best guitar work ever. Of course, some of you might remember Crazy as being the Patsy Cline hit that Willie wrote early in his career as a songwriter in Nashville, before he moved back to his native Texas, started over, and became a superstar.
The Sound In Your Mind isn't an album that jumps right out at you. None of Willie's music is like that. We're talkin about one of the most laid-back people on the planet here. Willie doesn't compete for your attention, you either like him or you don't. I'm one of the lucky ones, I guess. The arrangements are sparse, spacious, and unhurried almost to the point of being stubbornly Texas slow and stoned (Willie's been known to do that, too). I like the leisurely pace of Willie's music. The music doesn't overwhelm the reflective spirit of the songs, and Willie's country-jazz singing-on-the-backbeat style and Spanish nylon-string guitar always take center stage. If you're a Willie Nelson fan, don't go without this one.