Since 1978's Stardust, Willie Nelson recorded a number of standards collections. Healing Hands of Time is the most ambitious, in that it's the furthest from what might be expected of Nelson, but at the same time it's the closest to the "album of standards" formula employed by other artists. it's also perhaps the least successful of Nelson's standards collections. The songs on the album are bathed in a lush wash of strings and low-key rhythmic instrumentation that recalls the arrangements