Under the Influence  (Audio CD) 
by Alan Jackson

Right in the palm of your hand was originally recorded by Crystal Gayle and later covered by Mel Mc Daniel. It is Mel who gets Alan's credit - no mention is made in his comments about Crystal. The most surprising inclusions here are Pop atop (Jim Ed Brown) and Margarittaville (Jimmy Buffett), this last being a duet with Jimmy.

Alan does not attempt to do anything different with the songs - they sound just how you would expect them to sound. He never expected this album to be a big seller, but wanted to show his fans where his roots lay. The results far exceeded expectations, partly because none of the songs have been over-recorded.

This is not the best place to begin an Alan Jackson collection, but it is a very enjoyable album. Actually, I have most of Alan's albums and they are all excellent.

6 of 6 found the following review helpful:

A superb performance by Alan Jackson  Jun 17, 2002
As close as sex, drugs, and rock & roll is to rock, country's theme of livin' lovin' and leavin' has to include "honky tonkin' drinkin" songs. Jackson didn't intend for this collection to be a string of old hits.

These honky tonk ballads are songs that meant something to him growing up, he liked them or he sang them in his career before he was making records. He doesn't try to make these "his own songs", he just wants to sing them. But with Jackson's solid country style and his deep voice, some of the lesser known tunes come across so close to his style it is impossible to relate them as someone elses.

A surprise closing number is "Margaritaville" sharing vocals with the special non-country guest Jimmy Buffet (vocal were done separately.)

The other recognizable song is "Kiss an Angel Good Morning" by Charley Pride. "Farewell Party" by a sad, Gene Watson song about a man who asks his love to at least pretend to love him when he departs this world. If you haven't heard Gene Watson sing this maudlin ballad, please give it a try.

The 1967 booze ballad, "Pop a Top", which is a faster tune complete with the sound effect of a "beer can popping". Aside from Hank Williams, George Jones another favorite of Jackson's. Two song of Jones are here and an autobiographical song of Hank Williams about one of his wives.

An upbeat song that Alan has sung a lot is "She Just Started Liking Cheatin' Songs." John Anderson's good honky-tonker, great club song reminded Jackson of those days. "It Must Be Love" another single from the CD is written by a personal favorite song writer of Alan Jackson's Bob McDill. Almost every CD of Jackson's has something written by Bob McDill.

As always, here is another fabulous CD by a true country honky tonk performer. Alan Jackson has always done wonderful work. Every CD he puts out is quality, top notch.

This is WONDERFUL!......MzRizz.

3 of 3 found the following review helpful:

A strong tribute to tradition; definitely five stars  Mar 14, 2002
Under The Influence was the first Alan Jackson album I purchased. This is one record where I liked every song--and I think that the songs here are ones that you will like hearing. "Pop A Top" opens the album and was the initial single. I hardly ever heard Jim Ed Brown's original version when I was growing up because I didn't grow up listening to country music. However, after catching the country music "bug" years ago and getting acquainted with the song, I started liking it a lot. On this record, Alan does "Pop A Top" as well as, if not better than, Jim Ed did. Among the other classic songs that Alan covers here are "Farewell Party", the '70s hit by Gene Watson; "Kiss An Angel Good Mornin'", Charley Pride's signature song; Hank Williams Jr.'s haunting autobiographical song "The Blues Man"; the great Merle Haggard song "The Way I Am"; "It Must Be Love", Don Williams' upbeat hit from '79; and a 1980 John Anderson hit, "She Just Started Liking Cheatin' Songs". However, even though I like all the tunes here, I think that this record's highlight is "Margaritaville". Jimmy Buffett's 1977 version, which was a Top 10 pop hit, is great, but so is Alan's 1999 version--on which Jimmy, the writer, duets with Alan. This collection is definitely a five-star album.

One of Alan's Best  Feb 10, 2002
Alan Jackson is truly one of the best new country singers around. I enjoyed his version of all of these songs. He actually sings them better than the original singers, Farewell Party and Kiss An Angel Good Morning are so well done. I hope he comes out with another CD of this kind.