Customer Reviews

Can't You See

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

 

 

One star because this material was taken from a board tape. Toy had no intention of anyone profiting from this. I understand the CD states the Caldwell family expresses their thanks. This Cd was released completely without my knowledge, the Caldwell family has nothing to do with it. I was greatly disappointed when I found out about it.There is a great deal of work Toy has that I am proud of. I feel this CD takes advantage of fans of Toy's. I want it known I had no part of making this public and certainly do not recommend it. I had hoped after this length of time it would no longer be on the market. Seeing that it is, I have decided to make my views known. Toy respected his fans too much for this to continue.

I am a HUGE Marshall Tucker and Toy Caldwell fan. While this CD is certainly a welcome release from the late artist, almost anything is to a die-hard fan, the quality is just plain poor. There are live re-releases of both MTB classics and Toy's '92 release, as well as two previously unreleased tracks. While the songwriting is wonderful, and the live actual performance was probably great, the quality of the recordings is just plain terrible. While the liner notes boasts a lack of "enhancement", some modification would have improved this release. I think Toy would have agreed.

JMH

PLEASE USE MY NAME WITH MY REVIEW DATED AUG. 1999. IT NOW HAS A "MUSIC FAN", I THINK MY NAME WAS ACCIDENTALLY REMOVED. IT DESERVES ZERO STARS, IF THAT IS NOT POSSIBLE LEAVE THE ONE.

THANK YOU, ABBIE CALDWELL

I knew of Toy Caldwell but was not a fan when I found this in a used CD shop. I had not read any of the comments here nor did I know anything about the origins of this recording. It was just an interesting-looking CD with a poor quality photo on the front.

Nothing prepared me for what I heard come out of my speakers. This may not be Toy at his best and the recording might be of low quality, but the first track (I Hear the South Calling Me) is simply one of the most powerful performances ever captured on tape. It still gives me goosebumps after several hundred listens.

My apologies to the Caldwell family for recommending this CD of questionable origin. However in the absence of any legitimate live releases, this thing stands as an important historical item.

So do yourself a favor. Get this CD, turn up your stereo to earache level, and push the play button. Your life will be changed forever.

Yes, I'm now a Toy Caldwell fan.

I prefer the 1992 release over this live CD. It could be better if some enhancement work was done.

The late Toy Caldwell was a great musician. Most significantly he was a brilliant guitar player and songwriter. While he was not, for obvious reasons, the lead singer for the Marshall Tucker Band, he was the lead singer on many of the group's classics, including the venerable "Can't You See". This CD is simply of poor quality. The production is horrible and Toy's singing, raspy on his best day, is just plain bad. While the liner notes boast that the CD is not altered or enhanced, it should have been. Toy deserved better.

This is a very enjoyable album.Sure it's not perfect,but as Toy said ,"I wrote the songs, I can play them any way I please.''This whole album is a very moving experience considering the standing of the man.
Crossy

There are alot of negative things to say about this CD. Toy Caldwell is acting as lead singer but he can't sing. His vocals are well suited for a song without any melody, like "Can't You See", but are inappropriate for any of his love songs. In the Marshall Tucker Band, he only sang on a few of the songs. He even admits that he isn't much of a singer a number of times on this CD: "Here is another song I wrote that I will sing any damn way I want".

The other major negative is the sloppy performance. The back up band is adequate, but not stellar. It doesn't sound like the band had much rehearsal. Even Toy fumbles here and there.

The recording quality of the band is extremely good; much better than would be expected under the circumstances. There was no audience microphone, which is good and bad. On the good side, the performance isn't ruined by too much audience noise which is very common on most live albums. On the bad side, there are places in the middle of the song where Toy has gotten the audience to sing along. The audience can't be heard, so there is a flat area in the middle of the songs.

Some of the new material by Caldwell isn't all that great. It is mostly just a rehash of the old Marshall Tucker songs.

In spite of the negatives, this is still a very good CD with some excellent sections. The 14 minute version of 24 Hours at a Time makes the CD worth buying. Caldwell is still an excellent, innovative guitar player with a very unique sound.

The other reason to buy this CD is that is the closet thing to a live Marshall Tucker album that you can buy. For some reason, there just aren't isn't any live Marshall Tucker material available. The only thing you can get is a live version of the song "Can't you See" on the album "Searchin' For a Rainbow". Marshall Tucker's best album "Where We All Belong" was a double LP, with one LP being live. But that album is not available on CD.

Musically, Marshall Tucker was the second best of the Southern Rock bands from the seventies (only behind the Allman Brothers Band). Marshall Tucker developed into a fantastic live band. The first time I saw them was the tour to support Searchin' For A Rainbow in Tucson. They only played 20 minutes and then did a 20 minute encore. But the next time, they were warm-up for Fleetwood Mac and played for two hours. I remember the version of Never Trust a Stranger was amazing. Later, I got to see them at the soon to be closed Saddle Rack in San Jose, and they were still putting on a great show.

The group has a sad history and a very sad future. With the Allman Brothers in turmoil, they rose to the top of the Southern Rock pile. They were selling out stadiums. But Southern Rock started to die out and the group didn't evolve. Eventually, they were playing bars and State Fairs. After thier 10th album, Toy's brother and base player, Tommy died. Then the group fell completely apart. In the late eighties, Doug Gray started up a new Marshall Tucker, that plays bad gospel and traditional country songs.

If you like old Marshall Tucker/Toy Caldwell music, you might want to check out Widespread Panic and Gov't Mule.

I was there at Shooters (the name of the bar here in Spartanburg, SC) when this was recorded. It was actually 2 nights, 2 sets each night. It was sort of a last minute thing, not a big production. It wasnt even sold out the first night! He had fun, the crowd had fun, just an overall good bar band show. I am guessing this was just a soundboard recording for Toy and the boys to see how they were sounding and of course not planned to be released publicly. But, being it is probably Toy's LAST ever live recording especially of this sound quality, it should be released and enjoyed by his fans.

The album is a little on the raunchy side re: some of Toy's comments. I'm not meaning to be a prude, but I'd like for my children to be able to appreciate the CD without me being jumpy about which 4 letter word is coming next. I knew several of the "old" Tucker boys and 1 of the new set of guys. They are "top drawer" individuals. It was a charge to hear what Toy was doing in his "post-Tucker" years. I love the CD. LONG LIVE SOUTHERN ROCK !!!