Carnegie Hall Concert [Live]

Buck Owens | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (December 26, 2000)
• Original Release Date: 1966
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Live
• Label: Sundazed Music Inc.
• ASIN: B000056HOC
• Also Available in: Vinyl  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #49,319 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
  • #8 in Music > Indie Music > Country > Honky-Tonk
  • #43 in Music > Country > Classic Country > Bakersfield Sound

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com essential recording

Buck Owens wasn't the first country star to headline Carnegie Hall; Ernest Tubb played the hallowed hall nearly 20 years before Buck brought his Buckaroos to New York in 1966. Owens, however, signaled the ascension of a new era of plugged-in country when he grudgingly gave in to his manager's plea that he appear at the eminent venue. (Remember, this is the guy who insisted in song that he wouldn't live in New York City "if they gave me the whole dang town.") Owens was flying high in the mid-'60s, which is demonstrated by the hit-laden repertoire found on Sundazed's expanded reissue of the original LP: "Act Naturally," "Together Again," "Cryin' Time," and "I've Got a Tiger by the Tail" are just a few of chart-busters Bakersfield's best parade before a welcoming audience. They even repay the Beatles' nod in their direction--Ringo's version of "Act Naturally"--with a caterwauling cover of "Twist and Shout." Buck, ace lead guitarist Don Rich, and the rest of the Buckaroos are in fine form throughout, mixing country weepers and twangy uptempo numbers with a good deal of goofing around. One gets the impression that, while Buck wouldn't want to settle in the Big Apple, he might not have minded taking the whole dang town back west with him. --Steven Stolder

Product Description

Recorded at the venerable New York City concert hall, Buck Owens & His Buckaroos' Carnegie Hall Concert finds Owens and the Buckaroos tearing through chart-topping hits like 'Act Naturally' and Tiger By The Tail'. Complete and unedited with interviews, detailed liner notes and unpublished photos. Standard jewel case. 2000 release.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Five star band playing a five star concert, August 18, 2001

By 

hyperbolium (Earth, USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 50 REVIEWER)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Carnegie Hall Concert (Audio CD)

In addition to the incredible songwriting, singing and playing, Owens and his band show just what hotshot entertainers they were. Their staging, replete with skits, song stops for quick punchlines, and Buck's interaction with the audience (something he continues to do to this very day) weave their brilliant work into a whole lot more than a simple recitation of their hit song catalog.

By this 1966 date, their catalog was too extensive to be played through in a single show, hence three medleys are used to cover a lot of ground. Even with those thirteen abbreviated titles, they had plenty of material left to play in full form. Owens' voice carries from the stage even more powerfully than it does in the studio, and the tightness of his harmonies with Don Rich are mesmerizing. The telepathy between Owens and Rich goes a long way to explaining the former's depression upon the 1974 death of the latter.

The confidence with which the band kicks into every number is simply astonishing. Owens segues his introductions seamlessly into the opening line of a song, and the band follows without the slightest hint of hesitation. They are at once tight and coherent as on record, but with the looseness and swing of musicians intimately familiar with each other's playing. Each track bursts with the elation of musicians playing in a band firing on all cylinders. The response from the audience echoes the energy coming from the stage.

If the Buckaroos weren't the very best band playing live in 1966 (and this recording suggests they might have been), they were certainly among the very top. This recording captures them in a signature show; a must-have for fans of the Bakersfield sound. Sundazed's reissue (apparently the first since the album's original release) adds bonus tracks to the original (all in superb stereo), along with backstage photos, the original and new liner notes and remembrances from original Buckaroos, Willie Cantu, Doyle Holly and Tom Brumley.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Too much talking, April 25, 2003

By 

Dirk De Haes (Leuven, Flanders, Europe) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Carnegie Hall Concert (Audio CD)

Certainly one of the best live country albums. But Owens and his band talk, play and joke around too much: a 50 min CD with only 25 min of music... But what music!

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars GREAT LIVE COUNTRY MUSIC, October 1, 2002

By 

Nuno M. Ferreira (LISBON, PORTUGAL) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Carnegie Hall Concert (Audio CD)

For someone like me, that was 4 when this lp was recorded, this recording is a kind of an historic monument. You can hear one of the best live country acts of the time as it was today. The sound is great, Buck and the band are in great shape, the audience is entusiastic and Buck knows how to entertain. Great live recording, maybe one of the best live recordings of country music.