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To the Bone | ||||
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Studio album by | ||||
Released | January 1981 | |||
Studio | Caribou Ranch, Nederland, Colorado | |||
Genre | Country | |||
Label | Monument | |||
Producer | Norbert Putnam | |||
Kris Kristofferson chronology | ||||
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Review scores | |
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Source | Rating |
AllMusic | [1] |
To the Bone is an album by Kris Kristofferson, released in 1981, his last for Monument Records. It is his first album after his divorce from Rita Coolidge, and many of its songs deal with relationship decline. "Nobody Loves Anybody Anymore" became a minor hit.
In many respects, the release of To the Bone symbolized the end of an era for Kristofferson. It would be the final album in his contract with Monument Records, which was nearly bankrupt, and in December he would divorce Rita Coolidge, with whom he recorded three duet albums. Kristofferson also spent much of the period working on Heaven's Gate, an epic film that opened to disastrous reviews in November 1980, devastating his movie career. He toured with friend Willie Nelson in the winter of 1979-1980 in support of Nelson’s tribute LP Sings Kristofferson, which made the Top 5 and spawned the hit single "Loving Her Was Easier (Than Anything I’ll Ever Do Again)". The song would also just miss the top spot on the country charts in 1981 for Tompall Glaser and the Glaser Brothers, two more examples of artists having far more success with Kristofferson’s music than he himself was having.
For his final Monument album, Norbert Putman replaced David Anderle in the production chair, only the third producer to work on Kristofferson’s solo albums since 1970, the other being Fred Foster. Like Bob Dylan’s 1975 album Blood on the Tracks, To the Bone was a deeply personal album that explored the disillusion and heartache in the wake of a disintegrated relationship – specifically Kristofferson’s failed marriage with ex-wife Coolidge. By all accounts, the ending had been a bitter one; Heaven’s Gate co-star Ronnie Hawkins remembers that while on the set "Rita had lawyers up there suing him – so he had to have meetings regarding all that stuff as well as all the other stuff that was going wrong in his life". [2] In his assessment of the album, biographer Stephen Miller writes:
"Blessing in Disguise" began and ended with verses from "The Wild Side of Life", a number one hit for Hank Thompson in 1952 about a wife who abandons her husband in favour of the night life. Since much of the album was inspired by Kris and Rita’s life together, this intriguingly suggested that he might not have been the only one to wandere, or was he simply viewing himself through Rita’s eyes? [2]
Having been disowned by his family when he turned his back on an army career to pursue songwriting in Nashville, Kristofferson was all too aware of the emotional pain that familial turmoil could bring, and he expressed these concerns in "Daddy’s Song", which was about the pain his separation with Rita was causing their daughter Casey. The Billy Swan co-written "Nobody Loves Anybody Anymore", another song expressing bitterness and grief over lost love, would be a modestly successful single.
Despite its downbeat subject matter, To the Bone charted for several weeks, a better showing than his previous LP Shake Hands with the Devil, but it was not a commercial success. Kristofferson would not release another studio album for six years.
All songs composed by Kris Kristofferson; except as noted
Everything becomes as crystal clear as the air in the mountains; the old man with the bronze face burning in the last sunlight against a deep blue empty sky. He says to me "If someone tells you that they ain't good enough for you, believe 'em. Like as not they know what they're talking about." He smiled, and the sunlight caught the diamond in his eye. "It ain't a tragedy" he says."But it's a shame."
Kristoffer Kristofferson is an American retired country singer, songwriter and actor. Among his songwriting credits are "Me and Bobby McGee", "For the Good Times", "Sunday Mornin' Comin' Down", and "Help Me Make It Through the Night", all of which were hits for other artists.
Rita Coolidge is an American recording artist. During the 1970s and 1980s, her songs were on Billboard magazine's pop, country, adult contemporary, and jazz charts, and she won two Grammy Awards with fellow musician and then-husband Kris Kristofferson. Her recordings include "(Your Love Keeps Lifting Me) Higher and Higher," "We're All Alone", "I'd Rather Leave While I'm in Love", and the theme song for the 1983 James Bond film Octopussy: "All Time High".
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William Lance Swan is an American country singer-songwriter, best known for his 1974 single "I Can Help".
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Jesus Was a Capricorn is the fourth album by Kris Kristofferson, released in 1972 on Monument Records. The album cover pictures Kristofferson and his soon-to-be wife Rita Coolidge. "Why Me" reached #1 on the Country singles charts.
A Moment of Forever is an album by Kris Kristofferson, released on Justice Records, an independent record label, in 1995. His first studio album of original material since the relatively unsuccessful political record Third World Warrior (1990), it features several well-known studio musicians, including Jim Keltner and Benmont Tench. The album retained the recurring theme of freedom from oppression, but to a lesser extent than his previous two politically charged records - the aforementioned Third World Warrior and Repossessed (1986). The song "Johnny Lobo" is about the Indian activist John Trudell.
Live at the Philharmonic is a live album by Kris Kristofferson, released on Monument Records in 1992. Performed at Philharmonic Hall in New York City on December 2, 1972, the concert followed the release of Kristofferson's successful Jesus Was a Capricorn. Aside from several songs from the latter, the singer performed a number of new pieces, as well as a few of his well-known hits such as "Sunday Mornin' Comin' Down" and "Me and Bobby McGee". Guest artists included Willie Nelson, who was a little-known personality in country music at the time, Rita Coolidge, Kristofferson's future wife, and Larry Gatlin, whose career was in its starting phases.
Spooky Lady's Sideshow is the fifth solo album by Kris Kristofferson, released in 1974 on Monument Records. It was preceded and followed by duet albums with his wife, Rita Coolidge. It was recorded shortly after Kristofferson's appearance in the movie Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid. The album mostly consists of songs about decline due to alcohol and drug abuse. That theme of decline proved to be (unintentionally) prophetic as this was Kristofferson's first album that failed to see commercial success on a large scale.
Who's to Bless and Who's to Blame is the sixth solo album by Kris Kristofferson, released in 1975 on Monument Records. Its title track is quoted in the Johnny Cash song "The Man Comes Around" from the 2002 album of the same name. The song "Stranger" was covered as a duet by Johnny Duncan and Janie Fricke, and their version reached #4 on the U.S. country chart in 1976.
Surreal Thing is the seventh solo album by Kris Kristofferson, released in 1976 on Monument Records. "Killing Time" and "The Golden Idol" are re-recordings of songs that were originally released as a single in 1967.
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Repossessed is an album by Kris Kristofferson, released on Mercury Records in 1986. It was Kristofferson's first full-length solo album since 1981's To the Bone, although the singer did collaborate with other artists in the meantime, most notably on Highwayman with Johnny Cash, Waylon Jennings and Willie Nelson.
Full Moon is a duet album by Kris Kristofferson and Rita Coolidge, released in September 1973 on A&M Records. It is the first of three duet albums by the couple, who married weeks before the album's release, and arguably the best. Unlike Kristofferson solo albums, it features several covers.
Breakaway is the second duet album by Kris Kristofferson and Rita Coolidge, released in 1974 on Monument Records. It is one of three duet albums by the couple. Unlike Kristofferson solo albums, it features several covers. "I've Got to Have You" and "I'd Rather Be Sorry" had both previously been hits for other artists; they appear here by Kristofferson for the first time.
Natural Act is the third and final duet album by Kris Kristofferson and Rita Coolidge, released in 1978 on A&M Records. The couple would divorce the following year. The album was released while Coolidge's career was at a peak; her recent albums Anytime...Anywhere and Love Me Again had seen much commercial success. Natural Act is Kristofferson's only album to chart in the United Kingdom.
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