Not that this is a bad record, but it does show signs that he was relying a little too much on polish and that his ear for material is slightly off...It's an album that, once again, doesn't quite add up to the sound of its parts, and in retrospect, those parts do seem to point toward his commercial and artistic collapse a few years away, but even with these flaws, Music Man is a pretty entertaining latter-day Waylon album."
This is a mediocre record, but it reveals that he was overly reliant on polish and had a less-than-perfect ear for music. It's an album that doesn't quite come together as a cohesive whole, and looking back, those individual parts seem to foreshadow his commercial and artistic decline a few years down the line, but even with these flaws, Music Man is still a pretty entertaining later-day Waylon record.