|
|
Label: Windsong (UK) Category: Music Average customer rating: Media: Audio CD UPC: 053436000120 EAN: 0053436000120 ASIN: B000001QCK Release Date: 1993-07-20 |
Live in Concert
Tracks:
Customer Reviews:
Great Live Album RUINED by Some Moron Somewhere.......2005-08-17
Vivid Testament Marred by Crummy Sound.......2002-04-16
The band excels, as always, on Burlesque, and segues nicely into a jaunty rendition of Sat'd'y Barfly. Top of the Hill and Ready to Go bookend a nice set of four of Familyýs lighter tracks, including the classic My Friend the Sun. Roger Chapman takes the opportunity to scat a bit and tinker with the vocals on most tracks. Charlie Whitney, the most underrated guitarist on the planet, does his thing expertly throughout, and he delivers a blistering solo toward the final two minutes of Read to Go. My favorite track is the reworked Holding the Compass, a song that crackles with more energy than I would have thought possible when compared with the studio version of this number from Anyway. Rockin' Pneumonia and the Boogie Woogie Flu, the only song Family covered, at least the only one that has surfaced on a recording, is fun rock and roll with a sound a feel that foreshadows Chapman and Whitneyýs next band, Streetwalkers.
Of the other three songs, only In My Own Time really sounds sharp. Weaverýs Answer sounds too stripped down without the violin and horns that Grech and King contributed in the first line-up of Family.
Although these live performances are very good, the recording is marred by muddy mixing and, worst of all, canned applause that follows each track into the opening of the next track. After about three songs, hearing this same applause track over and over becomes very irritating. (There is a bootleg version of the first ten songs on this CD called in a different track order without the irritating applause tracks but with the stage announcements by John Peel, the legendary English DJ who ardently supported Family.)
One has to wonder if there are other live tracks by Family in the vaults somewhere. Other than the live half of Anyway and several bootlegs it seems strange that we donýt have more testimonies to a band known for its killer live shows.
All die-hard Family fans will need to snap up this CD while it is still around, but neophytes sound probably go for the other CDs by Family.
Solid Late-Era Live Family.......1999-09-08
The late-edition ensemble was outstanding in its own way, however, I can't help but wish there was more of the Family that produced the bulk of their recorded output. If you liked "It's Only A Movie," you would definitely enjoy the live CD. If "It's Only A Movie" struck you as too heavily R&B influenced for true Family, this won't help change your mind. Personally, I liked all the mutations of Family, & I find it amusing to hear Roger Chapman rip through a cover version of "Rockin' Pneumonia & Boogie Woogie Flu."
For people more attuned to the prior versions of Family, the last 3 cuts scratch that itch a bit. However, the sound quality for those cuts is pretty mediocre.
Music Album:
Music
Live at the Reynolds House Museum of American Art ~ Ken Rhodes Trio
The Weapon/At Home and Abroad ~ David %22Fathead%22 Newman
Bayou Dance Party ~ Various Artists
Arte Flamenco, Vol. 14 ~ Various Artists
Enas Kiklos Ston Aera ~ Xylina Spathia