Amigo

Arlo Guthrie | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (February 28, 1994)
• Original Release Date: 1976
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Rising Son
• ASIN: B0000030NA
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Audio Cassette  |  Vinyl  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #189,424 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Guabi, Guabi

2. Darkest Hour

3. Massachusetts

4. Victor Jara

5. Patriot's Dream

6. Grocery Blues

7. Walking Song

8. My Love

9. Manzanillo Bay

10. Ocean Crossing

11. Connection

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

25 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An Incredible, Vastly Under-Rated Guthrie Masterpiece!, July 9, 2000

By 

Barron Laycock "Labradorman" (Temple, New Hampshire United States) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Amigo (Audio CD)

I am often stunned to find how few people have ever listened to this wonderful album by Arlo Guthrie. Unlike any of his earlier work, which I also enjoy and listen to still quite often, this one work shows the incredible talent, diversity and intelligence of this sometimes slapstick and even vaudevillian singer. Arlo really is one of a kind, a true artist who often covers sour subjects with a sugary satirical style, thus making these bitter pills about life more tolerable and acceptable to discuss and think about.

Here our perpetually young and impish Mr. Guthrie is in full adult form, mature but still sporting a twinkle in his eyes, from the silly and engaging opener "Guabi Guabi" (anyone listening to it just about has to laugh at it, yet it is surprisingly durable and deceptively simple; you may find yourself humming or singing it involuntarily next time you're in the shower and feeling pretty good about the world) to the haunting "Darkest Hours" to the lovely ballad "Massachusetts" about his adopted state, to a plaintive "Manzanillo Bay" about that unspoiled seaside Mexican paradise, and a host of others, many of them off-beat and more than incidentally political, like "Victor Jara" and "Patriot's Dream".

This is indeed a quite under-appreciated and very special album by someone often assumed to be a lightweight because of his inordinate success with novelty songs like "Alice's Restaurant" and "The Motorcycle Song". Yet anyone familiar with Guthrie the man and his continuing good works in rural western Massachusetts as a sort of self-appointed one-man project on helping those in need, he is obviously much more than that, and anyone taking a close listen to this album will discover the true depths of his quite considerable singing and songwriting talents as well. Enjoy.

18 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Arlo's Best!, March 19, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Amigo (Audio CD)

"Alice's Restaurant" may be better known, "Hobo's Lullabye" with its hit single "City Of New Orleans" may have been a bigger seller, but "Amigo" just might be the best album/CD in Arlo Guthrie's impressive body of work. There is not a bad song on it. Not even a mediocre one. Every song, every performance is a gem. Check out the gorgeous lyricism of "Darkest Hour", the elegant "Massachusetts". Then there's "Victor Jara" the heart-reding and incisive tribute to the legendary Chilean musician. The atmospheric "Manzanillo Bay", the rocking and rollicking Stones cover "Connection". The infectious "Walking Song". If you choose only one Arlo Guthrie CD for your collection (though you should get them all), choose this one.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful CD., August 25, 2005

By 

Laurel Ann Bogen (Los Angeles, California) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Amigo (Audio CD)

Many 60s-refugee types (such as myself) may not be aware of the heartfelt, progressive folk music recorded by Guthrie after Alice's Restaurant. More's the pity. The songs on Amigo demonstrate a humanity sorely needed in 2005.