Thursday, October 02, 2008
Three Dog Night: GREATEST HITS LIVE
A Triumph!!!
For the first time ever, let me begin with the bottom line: 5/5 stars!
OK ladies and gentleman and children of any age...for the few of you die hard Three Dog Night fans out there who bought several copies of Captured Live At The Forum only to cry over how shoddy the production work was. I mean the original vinyl LP was "ok" by the standards of the day, but don't waste your money on the CD; the sound is worse than adequate. And waited a few decades for a CD release of Around The World With Three Dog Night, having to buy it as a two-fer packaged with the studio album Seven Separate Fools (which was a reasonable value), only to find that seminal live set was good (the studio LP converted to CD sound was adequate too), but not fabulous.
Well my friends, GREATEST HITS LIVE is to die for! On my Triports (headphones folks), the bass kicks, the vocals are clear and sharp, the percussion is outstanding, the keys are a tapestry that holds it all together and I can finally hear the guitar between lead licks. It's a real time to "Celebrate," the definitive lineup of TDN doing their greatest hits. My favorite addition to TDN's live legacy here is "Celebrate" in fact, that I always thought was a poor studio cut (even when re-released on the Golden Biscuits LP). But live, it is a signature song.
I could keep gushing, but if you ever enjoyed TDN, stop reading now and pick up this disc. If you have another minute, let me add that beyond the sonic wizardry, that included Chuck Negron, it's a nice package. You actually get a real multi-page booklet with the disc that has some neet facts about all the band, and includes several photos this life-long fan has never seen before. It is soooo nice to have a band long past it's hey-day, put out such a remarkably clean and tidy package, that is a pleasure to own.
Note: if you iPod this critter, make sure to select "gapless album." It flows lovingly like a real TDN concert (I've been there more than a few times), and you will want to have the real deal in your ears. Note to CSNY among others, live albums should "sound" like a live concert, OK? What is so difficult to understand about that? Anyway...I digress.
GREATEST HITS LIVE was worth the wait friends. My personal and heartfelt thanks to everyone (and I do mean everyone, even the postal clerk who handed me the package), that made this sonic experience possible. Anyone can now experience Three Dog Night's original line-up in their prime, live; long before in-ear monitors, digital sound, wireless mikes and programming existed, doing it they way it was done, almost inexplicably well, so many nights in so many cities and towns.
Long live Three Dog Night Live!
Zeph, out
PS: Can't help myself...if anyone from the band is reading, there must be a few more tapes of this quality....how about another release? Just don't make us wait another 30 years, please!
A Triumph!!!
For the first time ever, let me begin with the bottom line: 5/5 stars!
OK ladies and gentleman and children of any age...for the few of you die hard Three Dog Night fans out there who bought several copies of Captured Live At The Forum only to cry over how shoddy the production work was. I mean the original vinyl LP was "ok" by the standards of the day, but don't waste your money on the CD; the sound is worse than adequate. And waited a few decades for a CD release of Around The World With Three Dog Night, having to buy it as a two-fer packaged with the studio album Seven Separate Fools (which was a reasonable value), only to find that seminal live set was good (the studio LP converted to CD sound was adequate too), but not fabulous.
Well my friends, GREATEST HITS LIVE is to die for! On my Triports (headphones folks), the bass kicks, the vocals are clear and sharp, the percussion is outstanding, the keys are a tapestry that holds it all together and I can finally hear the guitar between lead licks. It's a real time to "Celebrate," the definitive lineup of TDN doing their greatest hits. My favorite addition to TDN's live legacy here is "Celebrate" in fact, that I always thought was a poor studio cut (even when re-released on the Golden Biscuits LP). But live, it is a signature song.
I could keep gushing, but if you ever enjoyed TDN, stop reading now and pick up this disc. If you have another minute, let me add that beyond the sonic wizardry, that included Chuck Negron, it's a nice package. You actually get a real multi-page booklet with the disc that has some neet facts about all the band, and includes several photos this life-long fan has never seen before. It is soooo nice to have a band long past it's hey-day, put out such a remarkably clean and tidy package, that is a pleasure to own.
Note: if you iPod this critter, make sure to select "gapless album." It flows lovingly like a real TDN concert (I've been there more than a few times), and you will want to have the real deal in your ears. Note to CSNY among others, live albums should "sound" like a live concert, OK? What is so difficult to understand about that? Anyway...I digress.
GREATEST HITS LIVE was worth the wait friends. My personal and heartfelt thanks to everyone (and I do mean everyone, even the postal clerk who handed me the package), that made this sonic experience possible. Anyone can now experience Three Dog Night's original line-up in their prime, live; long before in-ear monitors, digital sound, wireless mikes and programming existed, doing it they way it was done, almost inexplicably well, so many nights in so many cities and towns.
Long live Three Dog Night Live!
Zeph, out
PS: Can't help myself...if anyone from the band is reading, there must be a few more tapes of this quality....how about another release? Just don't make us wait another 30 years, please!
FIRST A LITTLE NEWS:
Tom Jones will be releasing a new CD titled 24 Hours, much of which he co-wrote in a few weeks. Thanks to our friends at TomJonesInternational.com, you can hear one of the songs, and get much more info. I like what I hear so far, think T.J. in his Vegas hey-day, but with a very 2000-plus edge. Can't wait for the CD!
Now, onto a few new releases....
JAMES TAYLOR COVERS
As he says in the liner notes, doing covers of established writers/performers is not a new concept to J.T. Maybe a third of his standard show (which is well worth catching, or viewing on his last CD/DVD One Man Band, available for about a year now), is indeed covers. Well, why not do a full album of covers (and call it "Covers")?
The good news is that Covers is a beautiful recording, done largely with the entire band in session, it sounds a bit more "live" and enthusiastic than an overdubbed/digitally cooked recording. Taylor's voice is in it's fine form as always; being one of the more genuinely and dependably great voices in popular music.
The CD, at least for me falls flat in that it listens like a box of puzzle pieces shaken together, rather than a quilt finely sown together. Maybe you will not agree. But singing a bunch of your favorite songs (a few of which will likely be obscure to many fans) in your own style, has it's limits on musical cohesion. Note, I'm an OLD "album rock" radio guy and loved the days when we could play a side of a vinyl LP straight through, or even rarely (at midnight in the day) play an entire album the night it was released. We probably sold a great deal of blank cassettes those nights, but I digress.
Standouts on the disc for me include: "It's Growing," "Summertime Blues," and the war-horse for so many acts in the past, "Not Fade Away." In fact "Not Fade Away," borders on definitive version territory to my ears, a real rarity in this overly done (Mr. Rod Stewart and Mr. Joe Cocker please take note), put out a cover collection at all costs for a quick and easy seller day and age.
Honorable mention goes to the inclusion of "On Broadway," although George Benson's killer version of that song will never be topped.
The rest are pleasant enough, but I personally did find Elvis's "Hound Dog" tedious in a campy sort of way. And I saw J.T. do "Wichita Lineman" live on the ABC morning chat show in the USA (it must be on youtube or their web site), and thought this is NOT a "James Taylor" song. The CD version is pale compared to Mr. Campbell's classic. J.T. just does not hit the notes as strongly as Campbell did decades ago.
BOTTOM LINE: 3.5/5 stars (add a half a star if you are a J.T. lifelong fan).
JOURNEY REVELATION, a 3 disc (CD,CD,DVD) set for US $12 at Walmart
OK, I'm stuck here (as are most of you). Journey made a deal with the mass retail chain for an exclusive (at least in the USA) to sell this package at a fire-sale price. I prefer purchasing as much as possible of my insatiable desire (music that is dear readers...what were you thinking?), at local indy stores (even as they drop like flies. But here I made the exception and I am very happy I did.
I mean yet another new singer for Journey...there have been a handful, sounded at first to me about as thrilling as Simmons and Stanley getting a new drummer/lead guitarist for Kiss: who cares? It's just gonna be more of the same. Boy, was I wrong!
Arnel Pineda, the Phillipino who is 40 years old (and looks and sounds 20), is our new delight in the Journey tribe, and he's so good you will not believe your ears (thus the DVD I suspect). I am certain all the stories you can Google are basically true. He is/was a great find. Neil Schon (leader of the band and guitar king by any standard) made a bold move to re-establish Journey, a.k.a. "the brand" in marketing lingo, and it worked! And it's a rare feat of artistry too in the music business.
I have listened a-to-b and apprecial Pineda's voice a bit more than the original voice of Journey in it's hey-day (Steve Perry of course). Now for the few who don't know, this set is on CD-1 a new studio album, with at least two potential Journey classics in the making ("Never Walk Away" and "After All These Years"), and the new disc IS getting decent spin on radio in the USA at least. No easy task for a re-formed band that would othewise be playing clubs and small theaters at this stage of the game.
CD-2 is where the band/brand is re-established. They had the gonads to re-record 11 Journey standards, to coin a phrase, "faithfully," with Pineda on vocal duty. The outcome will knock you over. Full disclosure, I love the orignal Steve Perry recordings, but re-done with better and crisper production, and with new (or admittedly at times, cloned) vocals is a real treat. The secret is the songs are rerecorded with a reverence not seen in such projects historically. Note again, this is a studio re-recording. The live performances are on the DVD.
The DVD comes off like an afterthought on the disc set package. No matter, you will marvel at how Arnel Pineda fills Perry's shoes and goes way beyond in sheer determination, and vocal prowess. This lineup IS Journey as we now know it. And this music blogger hopes it will stay this way for decades more. I could watch the DVD of this set daily for a month and not get tired of the show. It rocks like few "classic" bands ever did.
Bottom Line: 5/5 stars
Zeph, out
Tom Jones will be releasing a new CD titled 24 Hours, much of which he co-wrote in a few weeks. Thanks to our friends at TomJonesInternational.com, you can hear one of the songs, and get much more info. I like what I hear so far, think T.J. in his Vegas hey-day, but with a very 2000-plus edge. Can't wait for the CD!
Now, onto a few new releases....
JAMES TAYLOR COVERS
As he says in the liner notes, doing covers of established writers/performers is not a new concept to J.T. Maybe a third of his standard show (which is well worth catching, or viewing on his last CD/DVD One Man Band, available for about a year now), is indeed covers. Well, why not do a full album of covers (and call it "Covers")?
The good news is that Covers is a beautiful recording, done largely with the entire band in session, it sounds a bit more "live" and enthusiastic than an overdubbed/digitally cooked recording. Taylor's voice is in it's fine form as always; being one of the more genuinely and dependably great voices in popular music.
The CD, at least for me falls flat in that it listens like a box of puzzle pieces shaken together, rather than a quilt finely sown together. Maybe you will not agree. But singing a bunch of your favorite songs (a few of which will likely be obscure to many fans) in your own style, has it's limits on musical cohesion. Note, I'm an OLD "album rock" radio guy and loved the days when we could play a side of a vinyl LP straight through, or even rarely (at midnight in the day) play an entire album the night it was released. We probably sold a great deal of blank cassettes those nights, but I digress.
Standouts on the disc for me include: "It's Growing," "Summertime Blues," and the war-horse for so many acts in the past, "Not Fade Away." In fact "Not Fade Away," borders on definitive version territory to my ears, a real rarity in this overly done (Mr. Rod Stewart and Mr. Joe Cocker please take note), put out a cover collection at all costs for a quick and easy seller day and age.
Honorable mention goes to the inclusion of "On Broadway," although George Benson's killer version of that song will never be topped.
The rest are pleasant enough, but I personally did find Elvis's "Hound Dog" tedious in a campy sort of way. And I saw J.T. do "Wichita Lineman" live on the ABC morning chat show in the USA (it must be on youtube or their web site), and thought this is NOT a "James Taylor" song. The CD version is pale compared to Mr. Campbell's classic. J.T. just does not hit the notes as strongly as Campbell did decades ago.
BOTTOM LINE: 3.5/5 stars (add a half a star if you are a J.T. lifelong fan).
JOURNEY REVELATION, a 3 disc (CD,CD,DVD) set for US $12 at Walmart
OK, I'm stuck here (as are most of you). Journey made a deal with the mass retail chain for an exclusive (at least in the USA) to sell this package at a fire-sale price. I prefer purchasing as much as possible of my insatiable desire (music that is dear readers...what were you thinking?), at local indy stores (even as they drop like flies. But here I made the exception and I am very happy I did.
I mean yet another new singer for Journey...there have been a handful, sounded at first to me about as thrilling as Simmons and Stanley getting a new drummer/lead guitarist for Kiss: who cares? It's just gonna be more of the same. Boy, was I wrong!
Arnel Pineda, the Phillipino who is 40 years old (and looks and sounds 20), is our new delight in the Journey tribe, and he's so good you will not believe your ears (thus the DVD I suspect). I am certain all the stories you can Google are basically true. He is/was a great find. Neil Schon (leader of the band and guitar king by any standard) made a bold move to re-establish Journey, a.k.a. "the brand" in marketing lingo, and it worked! And it's a rare feat of artistry too in the music business.
I have listened a-to-b and apprecial Pineda's voice a bit more than the original voice of Journey in it's hey-day (Steve Perry of course). Now for the few who don't know, this set is on CD-1 a new studio album, with at least two potential Journey classics in the making ("Never Walk Away" and "After All These Years"), and the new disc IS getting decent spin on radio in the USA at least. No easy task for a re-formed band that would othewise be playing clubs and small theaters at this stage of the game.
CD-2 is where the band/brand is re-established. They had the gonads to re-record 11 Journey standards, to coin a phrase, "faithfully," with Pineda on vocal duty. The outcome will knock you over. Full disclosure, I love the orignal Steve Perry recordings, but re-done with better and crisper production, and with new (or admittedly at times, cloned) vocals is a real treat. The secret is the songs are rerecorded with a reverence not seen in such projects historically. Note again, this is a studio re-recording. The live performances are on the DVD.
The DVD comes off like an afterthought on the disc set package. No matter, you will marvel at how Arnel Pineda fills Perry's shoes and goes way beyond in sheer determination, and vocal prowess. This lineup IS Journey as we now know it. And this music blogger hopes it will stay this way for decades more. I could watch the DVD of this set daily for a month and not get tired of the show. It rocks like few "classic" bands ever did.
Bottom Line: 5/5 stars
Zeph, out
