Kris Kristofferson

Kris Kristofferson

Kris Kristofferson

War makes people do strange things. Sometimes, it makes them re-release outdated music that maybe shouldn't have come out in the first place. Such is the case with the double-album re-release of Kris Kristofferson's solo albums, 1986's Repossessed and 1990's Third World Warrior, as well as the documentary/concert DVD Breakthrough. This activist folk-rock is much needed in the endless days of international war, but at what price quality? Both Repossessed and Third World Warrior were LPs cut at a time when Kristofferson was too concerned with his acting career to concentrate on the simplistic beauty that his earlier songwriting thrived on. Instead, the songs here are mostly bitter protest calls with all-too-synthetic keyboards and drumming filling in the gaps. Third World Warrior has aged better, anthemic tunes like "Don't Let the Bastards (Get You Down)" and "Sandinista" still ringing true today. Even "Jesse Jackson" still sounds somewhat fresh, saved in part by an appearance from Willie Nelson. It's when Kristofferson gets too earnest ("The Eagle and the Bear") that he begins to lose you, and this is the problem with the other half of the CD and even the DVD. The better compositions on Repossessed are stalled by more of a desire to preach ("They Killed Him") than inspire. Breakthrough takes all of these issues and creates a visual for them. In between fine live performances of many of these songs plus older hits, are images of dying children and exotic locales. At times, instead of touching the viewer, the DVD feels like an hourlong Sally Struthers "Feed the Children" infommercial set to Kristofferson's voice. As one of the songs on this collection can attest, the logic of Kristofferson's record label may be "Shipwrecked in the Eighties," while the rest of us are busy with today.