Maps of Music

Who's to Bless and Who's to Blame (1975)

Where the lyrics of Who's to Bless and Who's to Blame take you, and where it was really made.

The same year this album came out, Kristofferson's supporting role in Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore became a smash, and some people blamed his falling record sales on his film work.

Key places

Recorded at Sunset Sound in Los Angeles (1975)

Recording site Sunset Sound — The album was recorded at Sunset Sound in Los Angeles with producer David Anderle, who had first worked with Kristofferson on Full Moon. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Album story

Overview

• Who's to Bless and Who's to Blame: sixth solo album by Kris Kristofferson
• Released in 1975 (November) on Monument Records
• Nine tracks; all written by Kristofferson except 'Rocket to Stardom' (with Roger McGuinn and Bob Neuwirth)
• Title track quoted in Johnny Cash's 'The Man Comes Around', from the 2002 album of the same name
• Thematic focus: mortality, offering no easy answers but asking questions

Background

• Recording career took a dip with the 1974 album Spooky Lady Sideshow
• Acting career kept rising: starred in Sam Peckinpah's Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid
• Supporting role in Martin Scorsese's Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore, a 1975 smash that grossed more than $17 million nationwide
• Some pointed to his growing interest in acting as the reason for the decline in his musical success
• Outlaw country exploded in 1975 with Willie Nelson's Red Headed Stranger and Waylon Jennings' Honky Tonk Heroes
• Kristofferson helped sow the seeds of that genre, but this album continued his commercial decline

Recording

• Recorded at Sunset Sound in Los Angeles with producer David Anderle
• Anderle first worked with Kristofferson on Full Moon, his first collaboration with wife Rita Coolidge
• Anderle cut the number of musicians for a smaller palette of sounds
• Mike Utley made a major contribution to the sound; Jerry McGee added guitar and dobro
• Overall sound predominantly laid-back and down-tempo
• Mastered at The Mastering Lab, Los Angeles, California

Sources: en.wikipedia.org · it.wikipedia.org

Tracklist

Sources: musicbrainz.org

Artist

Career

• American musician, songwriter and actor, born June 22, 1936 in Brownsville, Texas; died September 28, 2024 in Hana, Hawaii, aged 88.
• A pioneer of the 1970s outlaw country movement, moving away from the polished Nashville sound toward a rawer, introspective style.
• Signed to Monument Records in 1969 after one single for Epic Records; recorded ten albums for Monument.
• Songs such as "Me and Bobby McGee", "For the Good Times", "Sunday Mornin' Comin' Down" and "Help Me Make It Through the Night" became hits for other artists.
• "Why Me" and "Highwayman" reached number one on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart in 1973 and 1985.
• Member of the supergroup the Highwaymen (with Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings and Johnny Cash) from 1985 to 1995.
• Acting career in films including A Star Is Born (1976, Golden Globe for Best Actor), Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid (1973), Heaven's Gate (1980) and the Blade trilogy.
• Inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2004; received a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2014; three Grammy wins from 13 nominations.
• Announced retirement from performing in January 2021; final performance at the Hollywood Bowl on April 29, 2023.

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Reception

At release

• Michael Streissguth: despite shrinking sales and blistering reviews, Kristofferson doggedly pursued his vision
• Streissguth: 'Silver (The Hunger)' runs eight minutes and seemed inspired by William Blake's poetry or a Thomas Hardy novel
• Album grapples with mortality, offering no easy answers but rather asking questions
• Radio ignored the single 'The Year 2000 Minus 25'
• Not a commercial success

Reappraisal

• Biographer Stephen Miller: when not derivative, the melodies were generally unmemorable
• Miller: 'If It's All the Same to You' bore a strong resemblance to 'Once More with Feeling'

Records

• Johnny Duncan's 'Stranger' scored a Top 5 country hit
• Duncan and Janie Fricke's duet version of 'Stranger' reached #4 on the U.S. country chart in 1976

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Trivia

• 'Silver (The Hunger)' runs 8:14, the longest track on the album
• 'Rocket to Stardom' was inspired by aspiring singers who sang at the security cameras outside Kristofferson's Malibu home
• Kristofferson is said to have done something similar in the late sixties, landing a helicopter on Johnny Cash's property to give him demos
• Music publisher Bob Beckham joked that the singer might go back to flying helicopters down to the Gulf Coast
• 'Easy, Come On' addresses the debasement of women, another recurring theme in Kristofferson's songs

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

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