Customer Reviews

801 Live

5 star:		(21)
4 star:		(15)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

For a one CD collection of the best work that Eno and Manzanera did during the 70's, look no further. Some of their best tracks are here and given a dynamite live performance. Add to that brilliant bass playing by Bill McCormick (who nearly steals the show from the "stars") and able side play from Monkman and Philips and you have one of the great, obscure albums of all time. The quality of musicianship on display here is fantastic and all I could wish is that there was more of it.

For folks who think prog rock was just about 20 minute psuedo-symphonies, 801 is a pleasant surprise. The songs are short to medium in length with great melodies and a real punch in their delivery here. But there are also avant moments whether it be Eno's foreshadowing of New Wave in Miss Shapiro or the atmosherics of Sombre Reptile. There is even a kind of funky jazz feel to many tracks with Monkmans Fender Rhodes and McCormick's bass giving a little swing to things.

One of the best ever. Buy it, listen to it, enjoy!

bill macCormick (bass)& simon phillips (drums) won't be the reason you purchase this disc, but they might be the reason you stay. this concert was held in a classical music hall and the acoustics were the best i have ever heard live. (trivia: i'm pretty sure elton john was in the audience.) some reviewers above have complained about eno, but he was clearly the driving force in this outfit, at least this night. mazanera once ran up the fretboard in a blazing solo, only to have it go through eno's modulators which inverted the solo (phil raised his eyebrows). and tnk IS worth the price of the cd (beatles? wrote good songs, but these folks could play!). third uncle was the encore (with you really got me?), uncle introduced by eno noting the next was the fastest song ever written (and an audience member yelled out third uncle, getting a smile from eno--lord, if i only remembered relationships like that night). so the only real question is: 801 live or june 1, 1974, which is better?

i'll admit to still listening to my vinyl version. and therein lies the rub. i don't remember the set list, but wasn't there more than is here on cd? anyone have the tapes?

"801 Live" is simply the most important piece of vinyl ever offered on this planet. I won't go into Brian Eno and his early-to-mid-70s rockstyle work (he called it his 'idiot music'), all of which I admittedly love, I'll just say that this album, recorded live in a hall that seated about 6000 people, is the best engineered live rock-oriented album of all time; and that is damning it with faint praise, since it ignores the genius of the performances! I was about 14 when I first heard it and soon afterward discovered The Beatles -- who'd've thought that a British group that had broken up in 1970 had somehow 'covered' a Brian Eno song? Seriously, to this day I hear "Tomorrow Never Knows" the way I heard it first -- on this LP. Ditto the Kinks cover. And "Rongwrong" is surely the closest Brain One will ever come to doing his own version of "My Way". I want them to play it at my funeral.

Damn that XM satellite radio! A few months ago I heard "MISS SHAPIRO" from the 801 LIVE album, and many long forgotten memories returned! I literally wore the album out in the late 70's from playing it so much! I was blown away to see it was available as a CD on Amazon.com. "T.N.K."

by far still the best version of it, the chaotic yet musical madness of "THIRD UNCLE",and the debate returns after many a year, Fripp's or Manzanera's guitar work better on "BABY'S ON FIRE" I say no question Fripp far better! Now let's see if I can wear out this CD!

I agree with No Guru that "Miss Shapiro" is a truncated snooze of it's studio self, and also that this is the worst version of "You Really Got Me" I've ever heard (Eno's tongue fell out of his cheek, rather than being firmly lodged)), BUT, otherwise, this is one of my recording benchmarks in the "live-that's-superior-to-studio", progressive rock division (2 others are Gentle Giant's "Playing The Fool" and Talking Heads' "Stop Making Sense".

The engineering crew--the mixing board manipulator, the equipment placement dudes, the venue selector--all got it just right. So did Manzanera in choosing the musicians and overseeing the play list. As much as I liked the originals of Charlie Hayward's "Rongwrong" by Quiet Sun, and Eno's "Sombre Reptiles", "Third Uncle" and "Baby's On Fire", this 6 member "pick-up" group of Phil Manzanera's, sadly short-lived, nailed it on the head here. Manzanera, on a break from Roxy Music, brought Bill MacCormick and Eno from the Quiet Sun crew, replaced Hayward with Simon Phillips (who'd had the daunting task of replacing Keith Moon on Who tours after the former's demise), drafted Francis Monkman (ex-Curved Air guitarist AND keyboardist) and Lloyd Watson for this recording. Anyone compiling a boxed set of Progressive Rock live tracks would be rotated back to the gene pool if this album was overlooked! Although there are 2 studio & at least 1 other live 801 recording, this is the first to acquire.

This is the second time I've bought this CD (one copy for my nephew who would appreciate the great drumming)! However the thing I received from Amazon is not a standard CD but a CCCD (Copy Controlled CD). This will not play on my computer, nor in my car. Because CCCDs have damaged error correction it will not last as long. I do not condone piracy - but this prevents me from listening to my own legally purchased music.

Another gripe ...
Why the flat pricing for the tracks on the mp3 version. The first track (Lagrima) consists of a musical drone over crowd noise - it serves as an introduction to the album which is absolutely fine. It is ludicrous to charge full price for this as an individual downloadable MP3 track. Perhaps fine for TNK (track 2), though it's the usual preview-quality only, no good for us "audiophiles." Downloadable music = a zillion 4-minute soundbites.

Anyway, buy this AT YOUR OWN RISK. Google for "copy controlled cd" if you wish to know about what you actually get here. IT'S NOT ACTUALLY EVEN A CD!! Yet a musical classic!

801, Phil Manzanera's "side band" was a great experiment in merging rock with more experimental synth and acid jazz forms.
801 Live! is a concert in which Manzanera and Eno take center stage. The concert features a hard-driving "Baby's on Fire",
a really rockin' "Miss Shapiro", and an electronic cover of "You Really Got Me" that will make you forget Van Halen and long for Ray Davies to jump on stage, treated guitar in hand. The music is subtle and yet this is definitely a "hard rock" album, if that term still means anything at all. This is not just some bashfest for art-school rockers--"Sombre Reptiles" and "Rongwrong" are as intricate as anyone might wish.

801 Live is one of the best art-rock outfits doing their very best work. It sounds just as fresh in 2002 as it did when it was released. Buy this, and buy it now.

Between Manzanera's so-sweet guitar and MacCormick's bass playing, this album rocks. I still have my original 801 Live LP, recorded it onto cassette and spent years looking before finding the CD here on Amazon. One of my altime favorites, much played in this house...maybe now, I can try to figure out guitar tabs for Diamondhead.

Well worth the 10.98 I payed.

I first heard this album back in about '92. I still listen to it quite regulary because it keeps standing the test of time. When you get people like Eno, Simon Phillips, Manzanera and Bill MacCormick on the same stage in one night, you know something spectacular is about to occur. Each song has its own separate mood and atmosphere but somehow blend together ingeniously to create an overall experience that keeps me wanting to come back for more over the years. And needless to say, the bass on this album ranks up there as some of the tastiest, stylistic and powerful I have ever heard. Bill MacCormick is truly an unsung hero of the bass guitar. I'm not really sure how much overdubbing and cleaning up they did in the studio subsequent to the actual live performance, but the songs sound pristine, yet still have the urgency and fire of a live recording. I would rank this as one of my top ten favorite albums of all time.

THIS WAS 1976! 801 was punk, before punk. 801 was Brian Eno before U2. 801 was short-lived, hastily thrown together, sometimes sloppy, and probably one of the most astonishing and largely unknown meetings of musical minds since Rock was born. Eno is very typically and endearingly quirky in his live delivery. Manzanera is searingly sonic, while the material really allowed studio giant Simon Phillips to really show his stuff. MacCormick, Monkman and Watson are a bit more "in the pocket" but round out an extraordinary band. Back then (about 1977 on...) I ran with a group of friends who had, essentially deified Brian Eno. He was Bowie before Bowie. Pure, raw, unadulterated genius. For me..., this album started it all. "It all" continues to this day! I have the album cover framed and hanging on the wall in my office.