Customer Reviews

The Best of Arlo Guthrie

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Considering Arlo Guthrie's estrangement from modern record-making (especially for his former employer, Warner Brothers), "The Best of Arlo Guthrie" may be the only hits collection we get from this folk troubadour. Even so, it's a tidy best-of from someone often neglected today among Sixties folk's earth-movers (Dylan, Baez, Phil Ochs).

"The Best of Arlo Guthrie" contains the artist's touchstones: Steve Goodman's bittersweet "City of New Orleans" (featuring Crusader Wilton Felder on bass; the late songwriter no doubt would have been amused by its recent inclusion in a laxative commercial), the Woodstock anthem "Coming Into Los Angeles," the silly sing-a-long "Motorcycle Song" (which Guthrie prefaces by saying, "It's amazing that someone could get away with singing a song this dumb for that long,")

Then you get the evergreen "Alice's Restaurant Masacree." A decade before Elvis Costello sneered, "I used to be disgusted/now I try to be amused," Guthrie turned two then-common hippie brushes with authority into a moving, absurd masterpiece. It satirizes small town/big country bureaucracy too well to spin only every third Thursday in November. Yet thankfully, Guthrie's consistent performances and devotion to folk style (incorporating gospel and political protest music within it, always with humor) kept this anthem from swallowing his career as 1971's long and winding "American Pie" did Don McLean's.

"Alice's Restauarant Massacree" is essential to any Sixties collection, and this set is the most cost-effective way to get it. New fans should then check out 1967's original "Alice's Restaurant," Guthrie's duet LPs with Pete Seeger, or 1976's "Amigo" for the best from this second-generation folk icon.

This is one great album! Arlo Guthrie is so funny. "Alice's Restaurant Massacree" and "Motorcycle Song" will have anyone laughing everytime they listen. Guthrie is a true entertainer. I would highly recommend this album to anyone!

I am often stunned to find how few people are still unfamiliar with Arlo Guthrie and his wonderful music. This collection of his greatest hits and the best of his several terrific albums illustrates in one work what incredible talent, diversity and intelligence this sometimes slapstick and even vaudevillian singer has. 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 shows all of his sides, sometimes serious, often impish, and always sporting a twinkle in his eyes, from the silly and perhaps immortal "Alice's Restaurant", Arlo's true (if somewhat embellished) account of how the irony of the "Establishment's" bureaucratic rules inadvertently allowed him to avoid the military draft to the equally diverting and amusing "Motorcycle Song" or as we who love it refer to it, "The Pickle Song". He shows his more serious side with wonderful entries like "Darkest Hours" and "City Of New Orleans". Probably the greatest thing about most of these songs is that they weave their way into your subconscious memory, so you may find yourself humming or singing one of them involuntarily next time you're in the shower and feeling pretty good about the world.

My biggest regret concerning this album is that the lovely ballad "Massachusetts" about his adopted state, as well as the evocative "Manzanillo Bay" about that unspoiled seaside Mexican paradise, are not included here. Both of these songs are from his virtually unknown but spectacular album "Amigo". This is indeed a wonderful 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 as well as the terrific album "Amigo" will discover the true depths of his quite considerable singing and songwriting talents as well. Enjoy.

all of the songs on this cd are great especially CITY OF NEWORLEANS. Arlo tells a great story through all of his songs and they are a joy to listen to.

Highlighted by the complete 18 minute version of "Alice's Restaurant Masacree," "The Best of Arlo Guthrie" neatly hits the highpoints of a career that for the most part has been non-commercial. Guthrie had a mighty big legacy to follow being the son of Woody Guthrie, and he rather cleverly emerged from the old man's shadow with his good natured wit and humor. The other highlights from the album are his ace cover of "City of New Orleans," which was his only true hit single, "Coming Into Los Angeles," and the best and funniest version of "The Motorcyle Song," the one that in which Arlo explains to a receptive live audience the "(Significance of the Pickle)."

Overall, an intelligently selected single disc anthology that will satisfy the casual fan.

This CD is a good intro to Arlo, but he produced many more great songs so this album is just a start for any serious collector. Buy Amigo, Hobo's Lullabye, Last of the Brooklyn Cowboys and Alice's Restaurant (both the original and re-recorded version from 1996). These CD's contain some of the most beautiful and moving Folk/rock songs of our generation, and are largely forgotten today. Makes you appreciate his talent and humor to listen to these again.

Although this album has many of my favorite Arlo Gutherie songs, the Alice's Restaurant cut was much to to long and seemed out of place with the other songs in the collection. Maybe I have out grown Alice's Restaurant???

but the truth is, "Alice's Restaurant" is only fun to hear once or twice at 18 minutes long, even though I have a special relationship with the saga (explained down below.) This 1977 release should be called "Arlo's most popular songs from the first decade of his career." Several of his albums are more satisfying overall than this one, including "Amigo" and "Washington County" and "Mystic Journey." Other than "Alice" the most enduring track here is "City of New Orleans." I've always thought Arlo's version of this Steve Goodman lyric was just about as good as Willie Nelson's and ahead of anyone else's cover. I like "Gabriel's Mother's Hiway Ballad" but never cared for "Coming into Los Angeles" or "Cooper's Lament" at all. The remaining tracks are just OK.
Now about "Alice's Restaurant." No one who came of age after the military draft was not a threat can possibly like this story song as much as the men my age, who were drafted. I heard this on the radio, of all places, on a cold winter's day early in '68 while walking to the service men's club at Fort Bragg. A drafted U.S. Army private, #51979411, (I had to say the number once or more each day for 719 days. I'll have to die to forget it) I had received my orders for Vietnam only a week earlier. I was riveted by Arlo's tale of his own Selective Service physical and his details are mighty close to the truth. I had to go to Fayetteville the next weekend on the bus and buy the damn record, even though I did not own a turntable, and play it for my friends, some of whom lived off base and thus had a speck of privacy in their lives. It seemed delightfully subversive and gave me great pleasure during a lonely and scary time. But it is now dated badly, although many of the 18 minutes still make me laugh. I just purchased this CD, and I doubt I'll play it much at all, but to be true to my younger self and my history, I had to own a copy again, the LP having disappeared from my collection 25 years ago or so. If you are a long-time Arlo fan you may want this disc, but for newcomers to the life work of Woody's son, I think you should sample and buy some of his later albums instead. He is still making good music, more than 35 years farther on than his "Alice" days.

I recently saw Arlo perform out of pity for my mother. It was her birthday and she really wanted to see him in concert. So, our family got tickets and went to appease our mother. Little did we know, we would end up loving the concert as well. Arlo is getting older, but his music still sounds and feels amazing. It was as if we were all pulled back in time to a very social and simple generation. Guthrie sang his best, and we loved every moment.

When I returned from his concert, I immediately went and purchased this album. It was exactly what I was looking for. This album is a short (if you can call "Alice's Restaurant" short) collection of some of the ones that have given him the notoriety that he deserves. It covers the bold spectrum that is Arlo Guthrie with some classic songs (like "Coming into Los Angeles" and "City of New Orleans") and some of his spoken verse (like "Motorcycle Song" and the infamous "Alice's Restaurant"). Whether you are a fan of this man's music, or just looking for a new, laid back sound that will have your toes tapping and your fingers snapping, this is the album for you.

I would recommend this to anyone that is looking to explore the work of Arlo Guthrie, or even those that are die-hard fans. It is well worth the money spend and has currently been in my CD player for days. While it does lack one of my favorites, "This Land is Your Land", it still carries some of the greatest! It has perfect sound combining crisp vocals with strong guitar strums. Overall, this is a perfect Arlo album to add to your collection!

Grade: **** out of *****

This album is a good collection of the best of his early work. However, I do have one big complaint about this album - it provides almost no discography. At the very least it should list the recording date for each song (or at least the release date), along with which album it is on.