Monday, July 28, 2008
PIRATES & POETS TOUR PHILADELPHIA JULY 2008
PIRATES AND POETS TOUR
Philadelphia USA July 2008
A great time was had by all!
Zeph, out
Saturday, July 26, 2008
CSNY Deja Vu Live......ugh!
For the record, friends, I am and will remain a huge fan of Crosby, Stills, Nash and/or Young. The original Deja Vu studio album is my favorite single musical album of all time. I have worn out various copies of it, prior to the digital era. I wait patiently for a re-re-master of this masterpiece and will buy it yet again when that happens. Now onto our show...
Deja Vu Live, in a word, sucks. Sorry, it just is nothing worth spending a penny on. It is truly as one blogger put it, Living with War Live. I don't have to reiterate my review of Neil Young's Living with War in detail to tell you, no matter what your take on the wars in Iraq or Afghanistan, the music (lyrics or not) on that disc is boring and plodding and not worth the CD it was burned on. Please believe me when I tell you my comments are not (in this case) politically motivated. Yes, Mr. Young and I would likely disagree on many subjects politically, especially the war on terror. I put that far aside for this discussion. I still love 95% of his music and always will, regardless of politics.
Unfortunately Young must have bullied the other three into making a truly trashy live CD. The Living with War theme (or song, but it isn't that good a tune) appears not once, not twice but three freakin' times on Deja Vu Live; what a waste of recording time! Moreover, of the album's 16 songs, fully half are LWW dribble!
What's left on this disc are at best plausible live versions of songs you already have in your collection, no doubt, plus a nice chanting version of Crosby's "What Are Their Names?" which is (in stark contrast to the LWW throw-aways) a very melodic, and with the crowd helping out en mass, a great song to the power of peace.
The highlights are few. "Military Madness" is well done for the most part, but uneven with two diversions into guitar work that mimics the Beatles "Revolution." One diversion would have been quite enough thank you. "Wooden Ships," the song any long time CSN/Y fan has heard the absolute most in concert is shaky at best. There are plenty of better live takes of this tune out there (check out the one that opens Stephen Stills Live for example). 'Deja Vu", on this disc is decent, but hardly a stand-out; I guess it is nice to have a legal version of the song with contributions of all four of CSNY...perhaps.
"For What It's Worth," suffers from Stills new and gravel vocals, but does brighten up when you hear a spot-on take of the guitar licks from the original Buffalo-Springfield version; this is the only real smiler on the CD. "Find The Cost of Freedom" is both beautiful and inexplicable. It is done, as it was on 4 Way Street on two acoustic guitars with all four men singing. Yet there is this repeated "hur-umph" vocal sound that I think is Stills or Crosby, that spoils the mood and the beauty of the piece; stick with the old live version for your iPod!
Finally, "Teach Your Children" is a dusty but basic live version of the tune (according to Young) "for the teachers!' There are several better versions around; stick with those.
Last dig: the album is not cohesive; they fade in the first song and fade out multiple tunes to near or full silence. It just does not "listen" as a whole concert. That in and of itself is forgivable, but annoying. Live albums should play like a live show, OK???
BOTTOM LINE: it breaks my heart to do this, but Deja Vu Live is 1/5 stars. Don't waste your money.
Before I go, check out (free!!!) sonically inferior but performance superior bootlegs of CSN/Y live performances available through 4 Way Site
I stand by, awaiting the CSN covers CD promised for next year, and the DVD version of Deja Vu Live, and hope they will be worth my while and your money. I guess only by a miracle would we see a decent live CSNY album, long enough to be a real show (like from the Y2K tour?)...
Zeph, out
PS: I have more Melissa Etheridge photos and pictures from the Pirates and Poets tour to post shortly...stay tuned!
For the record, friends, I am and will remain a huge fan of Crosby, Stills, Nash and/or Young. The original Deja Vu studio album is my favorite single musical album of all time. I have worn out various copies of it, prior to the digital era. I wait patiently for a re-re-master of this masterpiece and will buy it yet again when that happens. Now onto our show...
Deja Vu Live, in a word, sucks. Sorry, it just is nothing worth spending a penny on. It is truly as one blogger put it, Living with War Live. I don't have to reiterate my review of Neil Young's Living with War in detail to tell you, no matter what your take on the wars in Iraq or Afghanistan, the music (lyrics or not) on that disc is boring and plodding and not worth the CD it was burned on. Please believe me when I tell you my comments are not (in this case) politically motivated. Yes, Mr. Young and I would likely disagree on many subjects politically, especially the war on terror. I put that far aside for this discussion. I still love 95% of his music and always will, regardless of politics.
Unfortunately Young must have bullied the other three into making a truly trashy live CD. The Living with War theme (or song, but it isn't that good a tune) appears not once, not twice but three freakin' times on Deja Vu Live; what a waste of recording time! Moreover, of the album's 16 songs, fully half are LWW dribble!
What's left on this disc are at best plausible live versions of songs you already have in your collection, no doubt, plus a nice chanting version of Crosby's "What Are Their Names?" which is (in stark contrast to the LWW throw-aways) a very melodic, and with the crowd helping out en mass, a great song to the power of peace.
The highlights are few. "Military Madness" is well done for the most part, but uneven with two diversions into guitar work that mimics the Beatles "Revolution." One diversion would have been quite enough thank you. "Wooden Ships," the song any long time CSN/Y fan has heard the absolute most in concert is shaky at best. There are plenty of better live takes of this tune out there (check out the one that opens Stephen Stills Live for example). 'Deja Vu", on this disc is decent, but hardly a stand-out; I guess it is nice to have a legal version of the song with contributions of all four of CSNY...perhaps.
"For What It's Worth," suffers from Stills new and gravel vocals, but does brighten up when you hear a spot-on take of the guitar licks from the original Buffalo-Springfield version; this is the only real smiler on the CD. "Find The Cost of Freedom" is both beautiful and inexplicable. It is done, as it was on 4 Way Street on two acoustic guitars with all four men singing. Yet there is this repeated "hur-umph" vocal sound that I think is Stills or Crosby, that spoils the mood and the beauty of the piece; stick with the old live version for your iPod!
Finally, "Teach Your Children" is a dusty but basic live version of the tune (according to Young) "for the teachers!' There are several better versions around; stick with those.
Last dig: the album is not cohesive; they fade in the first song and fade out multiple tunes to near or full silence. It just does not "listen" as a whole concert. That in and of itself is forgivable, but annoying. Live albums should play like a live show, OK???
BOTTOM LINE: it breaks my heart to do this, but Deja Vu Live is 1/5 stars. Don't waste your money.
Before I go, check out (free!!!) sonically inferior but performance superior bootlegs of CSN/Y live performances available through 4 Way Site
I stand by, awaiting the CSN covers CD promised for next year, and the DVD version of Deja Vu Live, and hope they will be worth my while and your money. I guess only by a miracle would we see a decent live CSNY album, long enough to be a real show (like from the Y2K tour?)...
Zeph, out
PS: I have more Melissa Etheridge photos and pictures from the Pirates and Poets tour to post shortly...stay tuned!
Tuesday, July 22, 2008
Melissa Etheridge in concert Wilkes-Barre PA 27 June 2008
A marathon, three hour show, and never a dull moment or a missed musical opportunity. Catch this tour if you possibly can. She rocks!
I have more pictures of this show to post shortly, stay tuned.
Zeph, out
COLDPLAY plays free show at NYC's Madison Square Garden 23 June 2008
They didn't do an encore, but they did it all well. Opening acts the Blue Jackets were a fun guitar band. Middle act Jon Hancock was about as tedious as a turntable guy could be. Coldplay were indeed worth waiting for. Forgive the lousy picture quality. Thanks to the band for sending the winning tickets to a wonderful lady!
Zeph, out
