Willie Nelson: The Great Divide

By GRAHAM REID

(Herald rating: * * )

Usually when a 14-year-old says, "What are you listening to that for?" you just ignore them, right? But in this case — Willie singing Cyndi Lauper's Time After Time — the kid had a point. Just as well he didn't stick around for the rest of this Willie-by-numbers.

This umpteenth album from someone who once redefined country and has a delivery as distinctive as Sinatra's offers the man a chance to sing Willie-type lyrics: the title track's relationship metaphor; "I may lack social graces"; a Bernie Taupin lyric saying "this face is all I have, worn and lived in" and another (with Kid Rock) which has a gunfighter metaphor and says there's "always someone younger steppin' up to be the next outlaw."

Yep, it's Willie doing a Willie. With Sheryl Crowe and Bonnie Raitt among the guests, a cover of Just Dropped In (To See What Condition My Condition Was In) and strings all over some of the ballads you've got a very unfocused and disappointing Willie album.

Label: Lost Highway