Customer Reviews

Bar Room Classsics

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

IF YOU GAVE "DEEP IN THE HEART..." AND "WE HAVE A LIVE ONE..." FIVE STARS AS I DID, YOU MAY BE AS DISSAPOINTED IN THIS ONE AS I WAS. OBVIOUSLY, WHOEVER SPLICED THIS THING TOGETHER WAS NOT A COMMANDER FAN. THE FIRST CLUE IS THE MISSPELLING OF BILL KIRCHENS LAST NAME OR , DO WE HAVE A NEW MEMBER OF THE BAND? YOU HAVE TO ASSUME BOBBY BLACK IS ON STEEL, BUT HE IS NOT MENTIONED. THE CONTINUITY BETWEEN TUNES IS REALLY DISJOINTED FOR THE MOST PART. COMMUNICATION WITH THE AUDIENCE AND INTRO TO THE TUNES IS SPORATIC AT BEST. ITS ALMOST LIKE A STUDIO SESSION WITH APPLAUSE FADED IN AND OUT WITH LITTLE INTERACTION WITH THE AUDIENCE. THE LAST TUNE, "JAILHOUSE ROCK" COMES AFTER THEY HAVE SAID "BYE BYE". IT LASTS ABOUT 30 SECONDS AND SOUNDS LIKE AN EXPERIMENT WITH AN ECHO CHAMBER. WHOEVER THREW THIS CD TOGETHER DID A DISSERVICE TO THE COMMANDER AND HIS FANS AND SHOULD HAVE TO LISTEN TO RAP FOR THIRTY DAYS.

This is no comment on the quality of the album - I must have listened to it 6 times start to finish in the few days (and I bought it a good four years ago...). Just a warning to any mad collectors out there. This is "Sleazy Roadside Stories" with a different name and packaging. Exactly the same track list, recording place and date and pointless snippet of "Jailhouse Rock" at the end. So don't go buying both.

As a long-time commander cody fan, I was very happy to finally track down this album...as a lot of their stuff has been hard to find (but such a fun mission) This album is "Sleazy Roadside Stories" with a new name, however it is missing two tracks, which are "Four or Five Times" and "Boppin The Blues" Those only appear on sleazy roadside stores, however, those two tracks missing from this album does not take much away from it...it is a great albun. This album is the rest of "Deep In The Heart Of Texas" Which was supposed to be released as a double live album, but the record company said "no" (I verified this with the commander, it is true) Too bad, that would have been so much better of an album had it been released with all of it's content...but as most live albums are, they get chopped up. Oh well. AS far as this album being chopped up with band dialoge and song order, yes, it is, but it had to be! For example, before "milkcow blues" starts, Bill Kirchen says "We've got a cowboy tune rigged up next" and then you hear billy c. say "Something soft and sweet like milkcow blues" Obviously the kirchen intro does NOT go with milkcow blues...no, it goes with Sunset On The Sage, which appeared on Deep In The Heart Of Texas...so it was cut up becuase certain intros went wtih certain tracks that could not appear on this album, becuase they had appeared on the other live album....see what I mean?

As far as sound quality goes, I think it sound great. That's all I have to say about that.

As far as that "jailhouse rock" snippit goes....I don't know if that track was recorded at the armadillo, but i have a live verasion of that song, done by CC/LPA which is the full song without any wierd echo effects, and it sounds great...this song is from a radio show they did....around the same timeframe....74-or so...it might be that recording...messed with. HOnestly I think it's only on the disc as a space filler....still, this is a great album, as are all albums the commander ever released.

I picked up my copy of "Bar Room Classics" when special ordering my favorite Commander Cody album, "Live From Deep in the Heart of Texas." I was not disappointed. "Bar Room Classics," also recorded live at Austin's now defunct Armadillo World Headquarters, is a well recorded tour of the Commander's eclectic music style. The initial attraction for me was that the album did not repeat any of the tracks from "Live From Deep in the Heart of Texas," and included the band's most well known hit, "Hot Rod Lincoln." Highlights of the album include the Elvis rockers "Blue Suede Shoes" and "Hard Headed Woman" done the Commander's way: boogie piano with steel guitar and sax. The Commander was equally adept at traditional country fare, especially "What Made Milwaukee Famous," "Wine, Wine, Wine," and the Western-Swing classic, "Milk Cow Blues." "Beat Me, Daddy, Eight to the Bar" and "Hey, Hey, Hey" (a classic shouter) features the Commander's boogie woogie piano. Commander Cody and his Lost Planet Airmen were a license to have fun, and at their best in a live environment. As such, "Bar Room Classics," along with "Deep in the Heart of Texas," capture the essense of one of the most entertaining bands to come out of Austin, Texas, in the 1970s.