Maps of Music

Don't Think Twice (1970)

Where the lyrics of Don't Think Twice take you, and where it was really made.

The album was assembled from A&M sessions that its own label heads did not like, so it stayed unreleased for years.

Key places

Audio Recorders Studio, Phoenix (1970)

Recording site Chaton Studios — Audio Recorders Studio in Phoenix is listed as the place where this album was produced during recording. The pin sits at the city centre, so only the city is certain. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Album story

Overview

• Third compilation album by American country artist Waylon Jennings
• Released in 1970 on A&M Records
• Made of previously issued singles and a few unreleased recordings from his A&M years, 1963-65
• The title track and "I Don't Believe You" are Bob Dylan covers; several other songs are standards
• "Just to Satisfy You" was first recorded by Jennings in 1964

Background

• By 1970 Jennings was on a steady but slow path to national prominence as a performer
• The previous year, Decca (later MCA, now Universal Music) bought the rights to the "JD's" album from Jim Musil
• Decca reissued ten of the album's twelve songs as "Waylon Jennings" on the budget Vocalion label
• Jennings left A&M for RCA in 1965
• An album of his A&M recordings stayed unreleased for years because label heads Herb Alpert and Jerry Moss did not like the results

Recording

• Young staff engineer Bernie Grundman was given the task of reworking the album
• Early Jennings vocal tracks were kept, while the other instruments were replaced with new performances
• Grundman re-recorded the album, mixed it, and mastered it

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Tracklist

Sources: musicbrainz.org

Artist

Career

• Born June 15, 1937 in Littlefield, Texas; American country singer, songwriter, musician, actor, and author.
• Considered one of the pioneers of the outlaw movement in country music.
• Played in the Texas Longhorns as a teen; worked as a DJ at KLLL in Lubbock.
• Played bass for Buddy Holly on the Winter Dance Party tour; gave up his seat on the plane that crashed in 1959.
• Led the Waylors at JD's club in Phoenix, Arizona, developing a rock-influenced country style.
• Signed with RCA Victor in 1965; gained creative control in the early 1970s with Lonesome, On'ry and Mean and Honky Tonk Heroes.
• Had a number-one hit with "Are You Sure Hank Done It This Way" from Dreaming My Dreams.
• Recorded Wanted! The Outlaws with Willie Nelson, Tompall Glaser, and Jessi Colter, the first platinum country album.
• Narrated and sang the theme for The Dukes of Hazzard, "Good Ol' Boys", which became his biggest hit.
• Joined Willie Nelson, Kris Kristofferson, and Johnny Cash in the Highwaymen.
• Overcame cocaine addiction in 1984.
• Inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2001; died February 13, 2002 in Chandler, Arizona.

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Reception

At release

• Released in 1970 on A&M Records as a compilation of singles and unreleased tracks from 1963-65
• Built from the A&M period that ended when Jennings left for RCA in 1965
• Label heads Herb Alpert and Jerry Moss disliked the results, so the album stayed unreleased for years
• Bernie Grundman, a young staff engineer, reworked it: he kept the early Jennings vocals and replaced the other instruments with new performances
• Grundman also re-recorded, mixed, and mastered the album
• The title track and "I Don't Believe You" are Bob Dylan covers, and several other songs are standards
• "Just to Satisfy You" was first recorded in 1964 and later re-recorded for the 1969 RCA Victor album of the same name

Reappraisal

• In 1978, German reissue label Bear Family obtained the reissue rights to the album
• Instead of a straight reissue, Bear Family dropped the title track and added "Love Denied" and "Rave On", both sides of Waylon's first A&M single, never before issued on any album
• The reconfigured album, now titled "Rave On", was released in West Germany only and was available as an import in other countries
• Sixteen years after 1978, A&M in Germany reissued the 1970 album on CD as "Don't Think Twice: The A&M Sessions"
• In 1999, Bear Family reissued the album again as part of the "The Journey: Destiny's Child" box set, which covered Jennings's career from 1959 to 1968

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Trivia

• Bob Dylan's "Don't Think Twice, It's All Right" gave the album its title, and the title track is a cover of that song
• The album's early vocals date from Jennings's A&M sessions, while the instruments were newly recorded in the 1970 rework
• "Just to Satisfy You" exists in two versions: the 1964 A&M take on this album and the 1969 RCA Victor re-recording
• Bear Family's 1978 edition deliberately left out the title track, so it was not a straight copy of the 1970 album

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

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