POP MUSIC REVIEWS : Nelson Takes Detour on Road to Renewal

Critics sometimes act as if Frank Sinatra has no real rival as the greatest vocal interpreter in pop music. But he does: Willie Nelson, who for almost 40 years has demonstrated a feel for lyrics that reaches beyond his base of country music to blues and pop standards.

So it’s heartwarming to see some of today’s most respected pop-rock figures--from Bob Dylan and Lyle Lovett to Paul Simon and Sinead O’Connor--lend their support to Nelson on “Across the Borderline,” a new album that is designed to give the bearded Texan’s dormant career the kind of jump-start that “Nick of Time” gave Bonnie Raitt in 1989. Even the same producer, Don Was, oversaw the two projects.

It’s disheartening, then, to report that the album is a disappointment: a mixture of personalities and material that neutralizes rather than accents Nelson’s warmth and individuality. And the problems continued on stage Monday at the Roxy, where Nelson and some of the album participants--including Lovett and bassist Was--joined in a live radio broadcast to help launch the recording.

The danger in having 11 musicians--even if the list includes such respected figures as Mark O’Connor on fiddle, David Grisman on mandolin and Benmont Tench on keyboards--is that you are tempted to use them all on almost every song, whether the material calls for that much punctuation or not. That works against someone like Nelson, whose strength is his economy.

Focusing on material from the new album, including Peter Gabriel’s poignant “Don’t Give Up,” Nelson seemed uncharacteristically ill-at-ease much of the time. Nelson is such a soulful singer that it’s easy to imagine him searching for just the right emotional tone when he closes his eyes while singing.

When he closed his eyes Monday, it was easier to picture him longing for the time when he says goodby to this well-meaning but ill-conceived professional game plan and gets back to more compatible musical surroundings.