5 comments about One More from the Road.

1. I owned this record in Vinyl already for more than 25 yrs. I rate it among the top 5 live recordings in rock, it's really phenomenal! I decided to buy it in CD, where the sound quality is better and I could get as well several alternate takes as a bonus. It's a must!!



2. This two-disc, two-and-a-half hour deluxe edition of Skynyrd's fifth album is perhaps the most enjoyable item in their catalogue. Okay, so the lyrics aren't Bob Dylan, but there are plenty of big riffs, big hooks, great melodies and smoking solos here.
   
   The songs from the original line-up's last album, which came out the year after this one, are obviously missing, but almost all the best material from their first four LPs is here.
   The many, many highlights include wonderful, crisp renditions of songs like "Gimme Three Steps", "I Ain't The One", and "Sweet Home Alabama", and a tough, gritty "Gimme Back My Bullets" which completely outdoes the studio version, as does a terrific, 8-minute "Tuesday's Gone" and a wonderful "Simple Kind Of Man". And this rollicking southern rock-version of "T For Texas (Blue Yodel #1)" is quite irresistable as well.
   
   You'd be forgiven for thinking that Cream did a better Cream on "Crossroads", and I think a ten-minute "Free Bird" might have been better than these two 14-minute "Free Birds", but those are certainly minor complaints. his is a terrific album. The band is tight but powerful, and the sound is top-notch. No Skynyrd fan, casual or diehard, should miss this one.
   Great, great stuff, and one of the finest live American rock records of the decade. And a good choice if you're only ever going to invest in one album by "the redneck Led Zeppelin".



3. ONE OF THE GREATEST ROCK BANDS IN HISTORY. THIS WAS RECORDED AT THE FOX THEATRE IN ATLANTA IN 1976. IT CAPTURES THE ESSENCE OF LYNYRD SKYNYRD IN ALL THEIR SOUTHERN ROCK GLORY AT THE HEIGHT OF THEIR CAREER. IF YOU'VE EVER BEEN TO A SKYNYRD SHOW BEFORE THE ACCIDENT, YOU KNOW WHAT I MEAN. THEY TRULY ROCKED THE HOUSE DOWN EVERY TIME THEY GOT ON STAGE. AND THIS IS A TESTAMENT TO THEIR TALENT.



4. Skynyrd at their smokin' best. Another great live album from the 70's. I've owned it since it came out. Not big on re-dos. Give me the original. However, this is cool. I have never met anyone who did not like Skynyrd. Buy it.



5. Jesus H Christ! What an album, "I mean CD". This CD blew my socks off! Un Friggen believable. I could not stop playing it. I bought the original back in 1977 before the plane went down.This was the album that really turned me on to Skynyrd. The sound is so much more improved on this new CD. Best live Album I have EVER heard! Nothing else comes close. Not the Eagles. Not Frampton, Nobody. PERIOD!

5 comments about Performance: Rockin' the Fillmore.

1. Humble Pie Performance Rockin' The Fillmore is the first best-ever live album to come out of the double lp live albums of the seventies. This album is pure rock and roll ecstacy and is without peer. Bob Seger's Silver Bullet Band album sounds like a bunch of pansys next to this masterpiece. Peter Frampton's Frampton Comes Alive would never have happened had it not been for Rockin' the Fillmore, on which he played a vital role. This is rock and roll at its best. Powerful guitar, powerful singing, and a rock solid and powerful band.



2. Buy this cd. Great live Rock & Roll from a great band. Another great live album from the 70's. Steve Marriott was the man.



3. ...get this CD. It'll be like the coolest water on the hottest day. The Godfather of Blues Rock, the late Steve Marriott, with his fine band of merry men (Peter Frampton among them, as well as the late Greg Ridley on bass and Jerry Shirley on drums) take the stage to shred, mince, dice, julienne your mind, and then savagely rip your liver out through your nose and make some sort of weird Japanese entrée out of it. This album is sorely underrated in the annals of rock history and deserves a spot among the best; It establishes the band as a good studio act and an even better live act (As is in the case of Frampton in his solo years). There's only one flaw: the censor's bleep during "Rolling Stone", which is easily overlooked due to the great quality of the music. A must for ANY rocker's CD library, I recommend it without reservation. ROCK ON!



4. Intense, lurid, boogiefied, and at time even borderline psychedelic.
   Humble Pie took 1 original, 5 covers, and 1 song which they credited to Ida Cox but has nothing in common with the credited song, and through ripped through them with all the power, intensity and emotion they had for some of the best 73 minutes of rock and heavy blues I have ever heard!
   The thing I love the most is that they had the ability to make the cover song completly their own. I have heard allot of versions of Willie Dixon's I'm Ready, none was energeic as this one. Steve Marriot is awsome on vocals. There's no frills and thrills here, just solid, pure rock with all the sleazy attitude expected from a hard rock show.



5. One of the best live performances ever recorded. Humble Pie sounds great, with that seventies feeling and mood.

5 comments about The Last Waltz (Remastered / Expanded) (4CD).

1. I only wish I could have been there! The Band and their friends out on a great show and the these CDs are the next best thing to having been there.



2. Anyone who has purchased The Last Waltz in the abridged versions really needs to consider adding this full expanded set to their libraries.



3. Here's my story. I'm about 10 years too young to have caught The Band in their heyday. Here comes the 21st century. Teenagers. Video games. PS3. Bluray. I got The Last Waltz movie as a freebie. It sat in the cabinet for about 6 months. Eventually, I put it in the player . . . Honest to God this has got to be the best film and album of all time. Unbelievable. I'm floored. Buy this album without hesitation and throw everything else out.



4. A great rendition of a historic concert, "The Last Waltz" boxset is a perfect addition to the movie DVD, and a real must-have to all Band fans. That's a piece of Rock history right there, don't miss it.



5. The Band's "The Last Waltz" concert still sounds as fresh and innovative now as it did when it was first released ~30 years ago. It's amazing that none of the music has gone out of date. I like having all of the extra tracks that weren't released previously. Many of the best musicians of that era performed at the concert.

5 comments about Hammersmith Odeon, London '75 (2CD).

1. Like everyone else, Bruce has the "best live show ever". And if this and Live 1975/1985 are any indication, he deserves that reputation. Think "sheer, combustible energy". So if the bombastic arrangements of Born to Run weren't to your tastes (though they certainly are to mine!), this album is for you. For instance, "Thunder Road" becomes a bare-bones piano/harmonica ballad, and it works very well. And how about that energy? Well, Clarence Clemons manages to take the place of the entire horn section on "Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out", which is also given a more prominent guitar part, and "Spirit in the Night" becomes a swinging, nervy dynamo. "She's the One" ends up so frenzied you can barely understand the vocals, but it's so good you won't care. I also think this version of "Born to Run" embodies rock `n' roll even more than the original does, because it takes away the Spectoresque production. Of course, the original's great, but this one might be even better. They also instill "It's Hard to be a Saint in the City", never one of my favorite Springsteen songs until now, with all kinds of life. And you thought that "Lost in the Flood" was intense originally? You haven't heard this version. Give a listen to Bruce's howls... it's creepy stuff. Ironically, Bruce takes one of his most energetic songs ("The E Street Shuffle") and slows it down to a moderate, bluesy pace. But it sounds just great! On the other hand, "Backstreets" doesn't sound much different than the original (though the piano fills are different from the original version - and yes, I have heard "Backstreets" enough to know the difference), but it still sounds good, even though I'm generally opposed to people playing live like that. Now, allow me to stop raving for just a second and concentrate on criticizing one song. "Kitty's Back", taken out to seventeen minutes and change, is just too long. I like parts of it, especially the sax soloing near the end, but it really throws off the momentum. So the train temporarily becomes derailed, but it's brought back on track by a powerful "Jungleland" and a rousing "Rosalita". Oh, and "4th of July, Asbury Park (Sandy)" is awesome, as always. Other than the accordion. The biggest surprise is "Detroit Medley", a fun medley of Mitch Ryder hits. Then it settles down with another excellent sparse piano ballad, a long but worthwhile rearrangement of "For You". The concluding doo-wop cover "Quarter to Three" revs things up once more, and is quite good, complete with a fake ending. This is pretty much an essential live album.



2. This is my favorite rock and roll album of all time. An electrifying, hungry, and unforgettable Bruce Springsteen performance as he and the E Street Band are on the brink of greatness in their first overseas gig: London in November 1975. The energy of the crowd, the time and place in history, the band, and the Boss rushes out of the CD and, as your heart begins to race, you feel as if you are truly there. I have never felt so alive listening to an album.
   
   To Sony: please release more Springsteen concerts from the archives. His place in music history demands it.



3. Bruce, please release your Tom Joad live tour. My bootleg was stolen from my car, and I think it's your best ever. A spiritual experience! Please Bruce, we all beg you. You'll make a bunch of money!!!!! PS Live in Dublin is life-changing!!!!!



4. This is actually not my favourite Springsteen-period; I prefer the 1978 and 1981 tours and the material from "Darkness on the Edge of Town" and "The River". (For God's sake, Bruce, release the 1978 Passaic concert on CD and DVD!)
   But this is just such a phenomenal concert, so full of energy and power and intensity. Bruce Springsteen and the E-Street Band play like there's no tomorrow, and the sound is magnificent, clear and crisp and probably better than what the 5,000 people at the Odeon in West London heard on that night more than 32 years ago.
   
   The music encompasses both the grand and the gritty, moving effortlessly between tender, soulful piano ballads and furious, breathless hard rock. Pushed forward by the keyboards of Roy Bittan and Danny Federici and the pounding drums of Max Weinberg, the E-Street Band tear through pulsating, burning renditions of "Lost In The Flood", "She's The One" and "Born To Run", and swing and swagger on the Van Morrison-inspired Jersey soul of "Spirit In The Night", "Backstreets", "Rosalita" and "Sandy".
   There's even a bit of actual Van Morrison tacked on to the 17-minute "Kitty's Back", a snatch of his classic "Moondance" from the album of the same name.
   
   The set opens with a sparse, tender and desperate "Thunder Road" and closes with a tough, driving and slightly ragged "Quarter To Three", propelled forward by Clarence Clemons' sax. Great, great stuff. And just about everything in between is equally great. Some may find that a couple of numbers are overlong, but with performances like these you can surely forgive a couple of minutes of indulgence.
   Four and three quarter stars. A magnificent live recording.



5. A quality listen from the first second to the last. Great song choice , great pacing , great song sequencing.I can only imagine the energy at the show. Bruce takes the audience (and now the listener) through high after high. Wish I'd been there.

5 comments about Nine Tonight "Live".

1. My favorite Bob Seger album. I actually wore out the original albums(yes, there were two vinyl albums back then)! I just bought the (one) CD, and I still think it's great!



2. The dominant view appears to be that Live Bullet is the better album. I don't agree. I've had both since they first came out and have always preferred Nine Tonight. It has a better selection of songs and is performed with at least equal passion. This is in my opinion the Bob Seger album to own if you were only to get one. Its a better choice than the best ofs and while I agree that editing Let It Rock was stupid and unneccessary the album survives and thrives. The only thing better was perhaps to have been there and as I live in Australia that was never an option.



3. CD was brand New Factory Original. Exactly what we were looking for. Description said shipped December 14-17. I was expecting it in that time frame, not being shipped out during that time frame. Was sent out after the 17th and recieved the 22nd.
   
   Great Product, Slow shipping. Would order again.



4. Great, I only wish it had a live version of Like A Rock on it!



5. Great renditions and some songs never released from a studio recording. Very true to form and full of energy!

5 comments about Before The Flood [Live With The Band, 1974].

1. Like most of his other live work "Before the Flood" lacks the light and shade of the studio albums - everything is at one volume (loud) and flatly sung. The performances of The Band, however, are excellent and give this album the lift it needs. If you want to hear a better Dylan live album then you might want consider "Hard Rain", which came out a few years later.



2. I caught the show in Charlotte NC in January 1974, purely by luck as someone offered a ticket on the UNC student radio station at face value, something like $8-9. (Yes, young people, major concerts used to be reasonably priced.) It turned out to be on the center aisle, row W. Bill Graham walked by a couple of times during the show. It was unbelievable, so great, I had no idea walking in how staggering it would be.
   
   But on to Before the Flood. A huge disappointment to me at the time, it sounds somewhat better in hindsight. Dylan oversings, especially on what would be the first side on vinyl. He didn't overdo every vocal when I saw him (and I have a boot of the concert to remind me) but he pretty much does here. On the other hand, the Band is great particularly Garth Hudson. The versions of Stage Fright and the Weight are particularly strong and Garth makes a mighty effort to save Ballad of a Thin Man with his organ/synth work.
   
   The fourth side, from Watchtower on, is really good. Dylan, Robbie, the Band are really rocking and tear it down.
   
   Don't start here for either Dylan or the Band, but it's worthwhile with the exception of the opening numbers.



3. I ordered the CD for my husbands birthday and I am pleased to say, the product arrived in plenty of time and well in tact. I will certainly do business with this company again. Thank you...



4. The very first time I listened to this was back when it was first release in 1974. My brother had purchased the cassette tape and I use to borrow it from him. It was my first experience listening to either Dylan or The Band live and was blown away. I thought "How can anyone top this for a live album?" Over the years I had pretty much forgotten about it until I had the opportunity to purchase the double CD last year. With great anticipation I started listening and came away a little underwhelmed. Not that it is a bad set, it isn't. In fact it's quite good. But there are a couple of things that can make this a little disappointing.
   
   1. Regarding The Band's two sets: I also own both Rock of Ages & The Last Waltz. Both are better sets for The Band, with Rock of Ages being the best. On "Before the Flood" some of the songs really sound like the group just weren't on the same page. When you compare both "The Weight" & "The Shape I'm In", two of my favorites, they just do not compare with the versions from Rock of Ages.
   
   2. Dylan also seemed out of place with The Band at first. The first three songs, "Most Likely You Go Your Way (and I'll Go Mine)", "Lay, Lady, Lay", and "Rainy Day Woman" have a below-average sound to them.
   
   But as we hit song #4, "Knockin' On Heaven's Door" the music does start to blend. As we move through CD #1 we're treated to some classic music by both, with a great version of Robbie Robertson's "Stage Fright" to finish off the CD.
   
   CD #2 starts of with Classic acoustic Dylan, as we hear "Don't Think Twice, It's All Right", "Just Like a Woman", and "It's All Right, Ma (I'm Only Bleeding)." It's here we get a little bogged down by the second Band set. As mentioned previously, "The Shape I'm In" & "The Weight" are not up to other live versions of the songs. But hold on to your hat, Dylan comes back on and we get the best song of the night, "All Along The Watchtower" and it JUST rocks. If I have only one complaint about it, it's too short. I would have loved an extended guitar solo at the end but we get only about 32 bars. Great, just not enough. It's followed by solid versions of "Highway 61 Revisited" & "Like a Rolling Stone." And as an encore we hear "Blowin In The Wind" and it does not disappoint.
   
   One other issue I have here, and it's been mentioned in previous reviews, is the fact that they made this a double CD. There really isn't any reason that it could not have fit on one CD, except to be able to price it higher. I mean we're only talking 21 songs and most are only a few minutes long. When it was first released it was a double-album but was able to be out on one cassette tape. I guess greed still is alive in the music business.
   
   But overall, I am happy with this purchase. I still pull it out and listen to it now and then. I would recommend it to any Dylan & Band fans, at least to round out your collections.



5. This was the first Dylan live album I owned. Listening to it again, I'm reminded how grim his live catalog was in the days before the Bootleg Series. Dylan himself is in great form here, and certainly is an entertaining vocalist. His selection of classic songs is a little unimaginative - especially compared to the huge reach of his Endless Tour setlists - but satisfying. These songs, overexposed as they are, are hard to get tired of.
   
   Dylan's solo acoustic bit is unquestionably the high point - he's in top form vocally and accompanies himself with rockier-than-usual rhythm guitar, which makes for near-definitive live versions of Don't Think Twice and It's Alright Ma.
   
   But The Band - *his* band, the band he rode with to rock'n'roll glory on the 1966 tour - disappoint. They're in soft-rock AOR form here, loose and ragged but with no sharp edges. Guitar sound is uniformly bland and unappealing, and their vocals are surprisingly sloppy. I can't say I'm a big fan of their material in general, but I enjoy the studio recordings well enough. Live, though, they sound like the Canadian answer to Chicago, and that we don't need.
   
   This approach extends to their songs with Dylan, which occasionally succeed brilliantly (Most Likely You Go Your Way, Highway 61 Revisited) but occasionally misfire (Like a Rolling Stone, the synth on Thin Man). Mostly they're somewhere in the middle - but compare these performances to the performances on Live '66 or Live '75 and there's simply no contest.
   
   The poor mixes and unsatisfying miking bear responsibility as well. The bootleg series recordings are immediate and engorged with sound, and have a raw power that this distant and muddy sounding record just doesn't.

5 comments about Wheels of Fire.

1. The studio material veers from the inspired ("White Room," never mind that Jack Bruce and Pete Brown seemed to play a kind of see-and-raise on Eric Clapton's earlier "Tales of Brave Ulysses," though Clapton unfurls one of the finest rounds of controlled wah-wah fills and solos of its time; "Sitting on Top of the World," which sounds first too reverent until Clapton spins a spellbinding solo and Bruce supports him with a neatly climbing bass line; "Born Under a Bad Sign," in which Ginger Baker's Latinesque polyrhythm competes neatly with Clapton's stinging Albert King-like lines; "Those Were The Days," maybe the second-best song Baker wrote for the trio) to the modest ("Deserted Cities of the Heart," "Politician"), to the mundane. ("As You Said," which sounds still as though it were composed and executed on some particularly skittery controlled substances, though the cello lines save it from total disaster.)
   
   The live recordings veer from the transcendent ("Crossroads") to the well-intentioned ("Spoonful," which tends to lag in a few places, in spite of several bursts of what made Cream so formidable as a freewheeling, improvisational concert unit), to the dubious (it's still hard to know whether "Traintime"---a superior take has since emerged on the BBC sessions---is inspired or exhausted, though the idea of chugging Bruce's harmonica to Baker's snare and hi-hat was a welcome relief, and the vocal is probably his most impassioned on the set), and to a combination of the three. ("Toad" was always more impressive for Baker's drumming---as colouristic as you'll find in rock of any era, never mind how many caterwauling inferiors it inadvertently inspired, than for its basic music bookends, the last of which you can barely hear through the mix under the crowd sound, anyway.)
   
   As a whole, "Wheels of Fire" isn't quite the master blend of eclectic blues and pop adventurism "Disraeli Gears" was, and you wouldn't lose a thing if you skipped "Passing the Time" or "As You Said" (both way better as ideas than as executed songs). But in the best moments Cream lives up to the better sides of its reputation. Maybe the sense that they were about to decide on packing it in pervades too greatly, but for the better moments it's still worth the price.
   
   (As an historical note: "Wheels of Fire" was the first double-LP set to be awarded a gold record, an award presented to Cream before they kicked off the Madison Square Garden appearance that concluded their 1968 farewell tour.)



2. Cream's best album combines studio and live material so you get the best of both. There are lots of reviews here and at allmusic and other places, I'm sure, that will go into detail about just what makes this album great. When I review something here, I am usually inclined to discuss the sound quality of particular classic rock releases in their various incarnations.
   
   This is another case of the label's remaster actually sounding worse than the original release. It's got too much boost in the mid-frequency spectrum which causes a distinct lack of clarity on vocals and other details. In terms of loudness and compression, this one actually does a good job not brick walling everything to make it distorted like so many remasters tend to do. So, you have the good and the bad...but you can always choose to have only the good....
   
   How, you say? First, if you can afford it, go for a used copy of the DCC gold disc version of this mastered by Steve Hoffman. It is the best version of this album on CD, period. The gold disc part really has nothing to do with that...it's the excellent and meticulous mastering by Mr. Hoffman that makes this shine. However, you'll pay well over $50 for one of these.
   
   Your second choice would be a used copy of the original release on Polydor (amazon lists this as the 1990 version). This was done by Dennis Drake and sounds really good, too, and you can find it here in the marketplace for under $15 (just make sure to ask the seller if it's the original release in the wide or fatboy case with the silver discs). If you don't believe me, buy one of each and have your own shootout and find out for yourself.



3. Track for track, dollar for dollar, "Wheels of Fire" is one of the best, most influential and most representative albums of 60's pop rock. Served up under one cover, you get the best recorded output of guitar god Eric Clapton, the most entertaining and memorable songs of the quirky songwriting team Jack Bruce and Pete Brown, the best singing committed to vinyl by Mr. Bruce, whose blues-tinged alto voice mixed with occasional leaps into falsetto was an extremely sharp instrument for mining a lyric, whether a surrealistic twee poem like "As You Said," a double-entrendre-laden satire like "Politician," a rock anthem like "White Room," or a straight-ahead classic blues number like "Born Under a Bad Sign," the unique and overlooked jazz-into-rock drumming of Ginger Baker along with a few of his own forays into surreal poetry; all of that adding up to a 60s album par excellence, a crossroads where the Beatles, Jimi Hendrix, Muddy Waters and Nick Drake all meet.
   
   I hadn't listened to this CD all the way through in a long time, but it gave me chills to hear it again. All three of its members, separately and together, put their career-best work on this album. For Clapton, there's room to argue that Derek and the Dominos is on the same level, but this was clearly a high point for Bruce and Baker, who were just as brilliant individual musicians, and the live tracks bring back the high level of improvisational brilliance the trio was capable of, for those of us who couldn't hear it in person. Listen to these live tracks, then listen to the comparable live recordings of the Stones, Led Zeppelin or the Who. Or even the Grateful Dead, said to be the pinnacle of live noodling. As great as those bands were, they didn't come close to Clapton-Bruce-Baker. Their studio career wasn't quite as brilliant, but this album is the best of the original collections (best-ofs are the way to go to get the best of the rest). One thing I notice. With all the diverse styles Cream tried, they never sounded ponderous. They were never "rock dinosaurs." Baker and Bruce kept them light on their feet, imbuing every track with the graceful drive of jazz no matter what else was going on. That and a sense of humor.



4. Had this on LP long ago, and I am really glad I got it on CD from Amazon. Never heard it sound so good! Check out the live Spoonful on disc 2, incredible jamming by three very talented musicians in 1968 in San Francisco, need I say more! Plus disc 1 has some jewels on it also! You should add it to your collection soon if you haven't already!



5. cream's wheels of fire is their 2nd best album after disreali gears - only because it has more material to contend with being a double album.
   
   the first side is studio output. everybody knows "white room" - its classic opening chords and wah-wah solo. next follows a reworking of howlin wolf's 'sitting on top of the world' gives clapton an excuse to cut loose some fiery blues soloing. 'passing the time' thought a substandard track has some nice soloing at the end. 'as you said' sounds like a nursery rhyme. ginger baker has his turn at the vocals with 'pressed rat ...'. then there's 'politician' with its catchy riff and overdubbed/overlayed solos. jack bruce is in fine vocal form here. cream sizzles on a slightly faster version of albert king's 'born under a bad sign'. 'deserted cities' has energetic acoustic rhythm and stinging soloing from clapton.
   
   the live side opens with a fiery version of robert johnson's 'crossroads' with the immortal twin solos by clapton. but the highlight of this double album is without doubt the 20 odd minute version of willie dixon/howlin wolf's spoonful. this is imo the penultimate cream jam track. superlative soloing by clapton with fantastic bass play by the lord of the low frequencies - jack bruce. i've never heard anything like it ever. traintime is bruce showing his harmonica skills and toad has baker pounding the hides in a bit too long solo.
   
   though it shines in parts, those parts do overwhelm. nobody else, even they themselves today, can repeat such a feat.

5 comments about Live at the Greek.

1. A friend of mine asked me to sell some used CD's for her on Ebay, and this was one of them. I decided (for some reason) to give it a listen as I was headed out the door one Sunday afternoon. My attitude was "Let me hear how much this sucks". After all, Jimmy Page, Black Crowes...yeah OK this is gonna suck like a vacuum cleaner.
   
   I came home, called my friend and asked if I could keep this one for myself. Yes, it's that good. Simply put the energy of this performance via the Black Crowes is amazing, and then you add Page to the mix and you have one hot band. I would have bet that no way could this band measure up to Led Zeppelin, but they come mighty close for my money.
   
   Another point is the sound...it literally jumps out of the speakers. Not sure how they recorded it but damn it hits you square in the chest, just like a well recorded concert should. Yes it's a trip down memory lane for Page but for me it's well worth a listen and a must have if you're a Crowes for Zep fan. Just go and buy it already!
   
   H777



2. Given it is the Black Crowes and Page I expected good things, however I was blown away. If you like bluesy, sexy, powerful driven music - then this is for you. This combination makes In My Time of Dying, Custard Pie, Celebration Day and Out on the Tiles rock. They slide through Ten Years Gone, Your Time is Gonna Come and The Lemon Song in ways that will give you new appreciation for the music. Page hits a few sour notes in his solos, but beyond that this is certainly worthy of purchase.



3. Folks - come on, great rock is just that, no matter who's playing it. The Black Crows kick some serious behind all by themselves - and put Jimmy in there with them and what do you have??? WHEW, this CD really gets it on. I'm an old guy (old enough to have seen Zepplen on their FIRST US tour in 1969) and have loved them ever since, but there's no point in talking about being a purist, this is quality work by a bunch of quality musicians and for a live recording, I think the mix is quite good. So, enough said, if you want super hot classic rock tunes to shake things up with, this is the single coolest CD you need, absolutely mate



4. I'm a huge Led Zeppelin fan and Black Crowes fan and thought that this CD was going to Rock. I'd say if your are more of a Crowes fan this would be a 5 star, but if you are a true Robert Plant fan...I'd give it a 2. A let down on most songs except the few that were not Zeppelin. Just not the same, maybe if the songs were changed to be more their own. Just didn't live up to what I thought it could be.



5. This CD will knock you out of your seat!
   
   I don't know who had the great sense to record and market this fantastic live performance but they should be awarded both a Nobel and a Pulitzer. Just listen to the first track ("Celebration Day") and you'll have a sense of the entire brilliant work.
   
   Here we see combined a lot of cuts from both Led Zeppelin II and III, two of my three favorite classic rock albums of all time, by these masters of rock and, WOW, what a ride! There are also cuts from other great Led Zeppelin albums.
   
   The beauty of the songs found herein is that the band/singers stayed VERY close to the original sounds and guitar riff techniques. You'll swear that you're listening to Led Zeppelin in their early days when you hear the guttral, raw essence of these songs. I've been a guitar player for 40 years and this is some very fine work.
   
   I don't buy a lot of live performance albums, especially recent releases, but this one is a big exception to that rule. You can't listen to this one soon enough, folks!
   
   See my "listmania lists" for more great Classic Rock choices.

5 comments about Rust Never Sleeps.

1. If you like Neil, this is one of his best, hands down. Star Wars roadies, huge speaker setups, classic songs both acoustic and electric. Probably the pinnacle of Rock & Roll. Buy this immediately if your a Neil fan. 5 STARS!!



2. 
   A while back, Warner Brothers Japan re-released 12 Neil Young titles. The surprise was that remastered content appeared for the first time on most of them.
   
   The titles & WB-Japan catalog numbers are:
   
   Neil Young WPCR-75086
   Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere WPCR-75087
   After The Gold Rush WPCR-75088
   Harvest WPCR-75089
   On The Beach WPCR-75090
   Tonight's The Night WPCR-75091
   Zuma WPCR-75092
   Long May You Run WPCR-75093
   American Stars n' Bars WPCR-75094
   Comes A Time WPCR-75095
   Rust Never Sleeps WPCR-75096
   Live Rust WPCR-75097
   
   I picked up most of these, A/B'd them, and found them to be superior to the domestics. However, having purchased the domestic 2002 remasters of "Beach" and "Stars n Bars", I declined the Japan versions of those two titles.
   
   Unfortunately, while the Japan version is remastered, Live Rust is not restored to the original LP's running form, and remains still the bastardized version.
   
   If you own the U.S. versions, and you're a NY fan, I would seriously consider replacing them with these.



3. Probably my favorite Neil Young album,yet I only listen to the first six song's.Rust Never Sleeps really showcases Young as a truly talented all around musician,songwriting,crisp,clean acoustic guitar,Neil's unique singing and harmonica(Neil Young plays harmonica like nobody's business.)Listening to the original vinyl,I purchased when it was first released,I never realized this was a live album with the audience dubbed out,until recently.As I recall this was some sort of a comeback tour for Young and it was a good one,and I also remember the acoustic version of Hey Hey My My alway's constantly playing on the radio at the time,never did like the hard rock version. Nothing special about this Warner cd,just a good Neil Young and Crazy Horse recording,Rust Never Sleeps.



4. It may be an exaggeration to say that Rust Never Sleeps saved my life, but it certainly lifted me out of a pit of despair in 1979. I was 23, living 200 miles from friends and family (i.e., lonelier than I thought I would ever be), and working for a moron.
   
   The real irony of getting hooked on Rust Never Sleeps is that in college I hated Neil Young because I had been a HUGE fan of Crosby, Stills, & Nash (never mentioning "Young" in the group's name), and had thought of Neil Young as the guy that destroyed that super-group and also Buffalo Springfield. Sort of like Yoko did for the Beatles, except that Neil did it twice.
   
   But one Sunday evening in the summer of 1979, a syndicated radio program played an interview with Neil Young, and the topic was his concert film, Rust Never Sleeps. Much to my surprise, Neil did not sound like the devil, but like a legitimate artist that was more concerned with being true to his art than he was in being commercially successful.
   
   I checked the movie listings in the local newspaper and saw that Rust Never Sleeps was playing at a theater across town, so the next night I went to see the movie. It made me ridiculously happy, so the next morning I bought the Rust Never Sleeps vinyl LP, and listening to it day after day (and later, Live Rust and Comes A Time), I was able to survive my crappy job and The Summer From Hell.
   
   For Christmas this year I bought Roxio Toast, with CD Spin Doctor, and started recording my old vinyl albums onto my Mac, and one of the first to be recorded was Rust Never Sleeps. Just for grins I went to Amazon to read reviews, and it was interesting to see where I agreed and disagreed with the other reviewers.
   
   Powderfinger is one place where I diverge from the prevailing opinion. Although I like the song, it never seemed to me to be the greatest song Neil ever wrote or performed. From the electric side of the LP, Sedan Delivery and Welfare Mothers have much stronger places in my memory. I guess the humor that I needed in 1979 made those two songs more appealing. As a side note, whoever thinks that Powderfinger is about Native Americans should listen to the song again. The characters sound to me like they are from the backwoods of the South.
   
   For the acoustic side, most reviewers love Pocahontas and Thrasher, and I'm with everybody on those. Of course, both Hey Hey, My My and My My, Hey Hey are great.
   
   And as mentioned by some other reviewers, Live Rust is wonderful, too. The versions of Cinnamon Girl and Tonight's The Night make the entire record worthwhile.
   
   Finally, if you have never seen the Rust Never Sleeps movie, buy it NOW. It is tremendous.



5. A few years ago, a local rock station had a contest to name the worst rock guitarist in history. Neil Young won this dubious honor. I realize he is no technical virtuoso, but what Neil does do with guitar is create powerful sounds and moods - especially when paired with Crazy Horse, the guitar work is stirring and overpowering. In Powderfinger and My My Hey Hey, the guitar work explodes off the disc and makes you want to stand up and shout and sing. I love this album and hope this worst guitarist continues to produce such incredibly moving music.

5 comments about Seconds Out.

1. I got to see this amazing band twice in Kalamazoo Mich during the 70s. The first time I sat for 2 hours with my jaw on the floor, I had never witnessed anything like it and was so blown away that I had to be reminded to hit the joints being past to me. From that point on I was a Genesis devotee .. well ..at least up to the point where they seemed to sell out to top 40. This live album is maybe the best live album I have ever heard. It perfectly captures what it was like in sound to be at a Genesis concert and a must for any true music lover of any type.



2. I loved this when it came out on LP back in the 70's and I love it now in 2007. I guess good music never dies.



3. I bought my own copy of the vinyl in 1978 after my brother made me listen to his copy. I would put it on the turntable, turn off the lights and listen to it from beginning to end laying down on the floor with my head in between the speakers (I did not have a headset). I would imagine that I was at the show. SECONDS OUT is, quite simply put, the greatest Progressive Rock Live album ever recorded! The band is a the top of its game (despite Peter Gabriel's departure). Phil Collins and Chester Thompson perform what I consider to be, by far, the best live drumming I have ever heard, especially on SQUONK, DANCE ON A VOLCANO and LOS ENDOS. Phil does a surprisingly good job taking over the microphone, Steve Hackett's magic guitar gives the right atmosphere and Tony, well, is just Mr. Cool on keyboards. Absolutely superb! I could not be at the show but someone (God Bless him or her) put the footage of the show on YOUTUBE, including SUPPER'S READY, the ultimate Prog Rock song. Buy this album. You will not regret it!



4. English art rockers Genesis' released its tenth album and their first double live album entitled Seconds Out in November of 1977. Seconds Out is arguably (and IMHO) the band's best live album, and is also one of my Top 5 live rock albums ever made.
   Drummer Phil Collins proved an able replacement for Peter Gabriel on vocals, he does excellent on the Gabriel material especially on Firth of Fifth.
   The band roars through many of their prog rock gems dating from 1971's Nursery Cryme ("The Musical Box") to 1977's Wind and Wuthering ("Afterglow") such as the opening "Squonk", the classic "Carpet Crawlers" (a/k/a Carpet Crawl as listed on the sleeve), the classic "Firth Of Fifth", "I Know What I Like" (complete with Phil Collins' tambourine dance), "Robbery Assault and Battery", "The Cinema Show" (recorded on 1976, the nearly 25-minute epic Supper's Ready and the closing "Dance on a Volcano"/"Los Endos" medley are all played with great gusto and power.
   The other tracks "The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway"/"The Musical Box" (medley) and "Afterglow" surpass the studio counterparts.
   Listening to this 2-disc set, you can almost imagine the band's playing live in Paris in the Spring of 1977 or even Madison Square Garden back in 1977.
   In addition to Phil's great vocals and occasional drumming, the other members (Tony Banks' keyboards, Steve Hackett's guitar, Mike Rutherford's bass and touring drummer and at the time lone American in the band for touring purposes Chester Thompson's drumming) are on fire here as well.
   Seconds Out is brilliant live Genesis from start to finish. The band's stunning, unforgettable performance of Supper's Ready alone is worth the price of this album alone (I apologize Gabriel fans but Phil sang it better) but all the way around, this is a classic live album.
   Seconds Out also said farewell to longtime guitarist Steve Hackett, who left Genesis around the time of this live album's mixing stage in the summer of 1977.
   Seconds Out was the first live Genesis album to chart peaking at #41 on the Billboard album chart in late 1977/early 1978 considering that their first live album, 1973's Genesis Live, flopped initially.
   Highly recommended!



5. Sometimes it's nice to be an old f_rt! I've seen Genesis live pretty much every tour since my first...Lamb. What a shock that was....I was expecting Foxtrot and Nursery Cryme and got something completely different! Too bad for me Lamb hadn't been released in the U.S. before the tour.
   
   Anyway, in regards to Seconds Out...if any of you are old enough to remember...Genesis was considered one of the top "live" bands to see at this time...sound, visuals (they pretty much invented the laser show!)....the complete package. THIS ALBUM CAPTURES THE INTENSITY BETTER THAN ANY LIVE COMPILATION OF THE TIME! NO DEBATE...
   
   If you don't own it...and never saw the shows at that time...well, I guess there's always reallity TV to watch....
   
   Turned 50 this year and am lucky enough to have been in the right place at the right time!
   
   Tom