Customer Reviews

Delbert McClinton: Live From Austin TX

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This is a great show recorded in 1982. It's classic Delbert. He's doing his thing with nine other excellent musicians on stage. They are all having a blast. The song selection is the early stuff, but all songs are post Delbert & Glen. Be aware that there is another excellent Delbert McClinton Live From Austin cd (without accompanying DVD) put out by Alligator Records in 1989 (now out of print?) that is not to be confused with this production by New West Records as part of their Live From Austin series (Austin City Limits).

Delbert is an icon of the genre. His smooth, yet raspy voice mixed with his perpetual 4/4 shuffle have been infecting fans for a long time now.... Ever since his early days as a bar band player in Texas.....When he backed up the best of the blues icons.

This production is very true to life..... Terry Lickona's stuff always is..... Hell, they didn't even do a "take 2" In the first song (Mess of Blues) when Delbert started his harp solo with the wrong damn harmonica.... funny stuff.... And it was great to see Frosty on drums..... Haven't seen him since he was with Lee Michaels in the late 60's.

OK, here's where things were a just a tiny bit saggy.... His sax man, Rich Kinney's solos just get old after awhile..... He does his best to break things up, but every time he does he ventures into uncharted territory and fails to make a decent phrase... Maybe he was sick that night....I dunno. But in a band that's as solo sax dominant as Delbert's, it stuck out like streaker in a Catholic church.

...and one more thing, someone take the cowbell away from Delbert... He's not a percussionist.....

OK, so I'm a picky, pissy music junkie who likes everything to be perfect.

Sue me........

But, all in all, this is great fun for any Delbert fan.....

Besides, you'll never notice all the clams and glitches I mentioned anyway....

This is actually a very entertaining DVD......

Oh, and I don't understand why Amazon says this is a Region 2 format that is not playable on USA equipment.... I bought mine direct from New West records and it plays fine on both my computer and my home DVD player in Oceanside, California USA... Someone at Amazon got that WRONG.....

Enjoy this music performance... actually I liked it alot.... BUY IT.

Timothy A. Di PIetro
Certified Django Reinhardt Junkie

Nobody does this music better than Delbert, then and now. Texas R&B, Blues, country ballads, rock and roll, all seem to be his natural style. This dvd is over twenty years old and recorded not long after the general population saw him on Saturday Night Live, thus the New York t-shirt he wore for this performance, I guess. The print is good, though there are some strange,incongruous shots, especially when Delbert's harmonica solos are off camera. Still, this performance is great, and a real treat for those of us in the northland who get to his concerts only once every other summer.

I recently joined an R&B band and the keyboard player turned me on to Delbert. I was truly shocked. He is one of the greatest, most soulful voices (and arguably the least appreciated) in music. This is a 28 year old performance on Austin City Limits that showcases his talents with some fantastic material. He does three songs that my band does, Goin' Back to Louisiana, Shakey Ground and Givin' It Up for Your Love that I consider the highlights but everything on this DVD is great. I've subsequently heard him play with BB King and other soul greats and I am embarassed that I was not aware of him going back to the 60's. Anyone who loves R&B and Soul will love this DVD. Again, why isn't this guy a superstar?

I first discovered Delbert on XM radio and since have purchased most of his songs. If you like blues or honky tonk then this is your man...and band. He displays an amazing versatility and I must say, I like just about every song he's ever done which is more than I can say about many artists. Now granted, music is a highly personal thing and each to their own but for sheer energy, fun, passion, quality of the backup band members etc, this artist is tops in my opinion.

I don't care how many people put Delbert McClinton down,In my eyes he's the man.
Texas blues or not Texas blues I really don't give a damn,
I love everything he sings.
I have my own band in Australia, and have recorded a couple of Delbert's songs,peple at my gigs get straight out on the floor to dance each time I perform his tunes.
Keep up the great work Delbert,I for one will buy everything you record.
Regards Joe Galea.
Melbourne Australia.

Shows Delbert at his classic best. Makes you wish he was performing in your area so you could go get a "Delbert fix".

It's sad that Delbert's harmonica solos on this video are apparenetly off-camera. That's a very interesting part of his story. I had the opportunity to interview Delbert a few years ago on stage at the Sonny Boy Blues Hall at the King Biscuit Blues Festival. Delbert used to play the blues clubs in Dallas and Ft. Worth learning harmonica at the hands of harmonica wizards Sonny Boy Williamson (Rice Miller) and Jimmy Reed, accompanied singer Bruce Channel on his hit "Hey Baby" to promote it in England. On one night in 1962 he "taught" or at least coached a budding singer named John Lennon to play the harmonica. The next Beatles song recorded a couple weeks later was "Love Me Do" featuring Lennon's harmonica solo. Fortunately there is a video of the Beatle's playing that song and the eerie part is that Lennon is holding the harmonica exactly like Sonny Boy Williamson who, ironically, would visit England the next year as the surprise star of the American Folk Blues Festival 1963.

This is a great addition to anyone's music collection. I have seen Delbert many times and he only improves with age. His voice has so much soul and rhythm it is unbelievable. He is Blues to the bone. This is a must have for any Delbert Fan!!!!!!!!!!

I got this DVD as a gift. The Amazon review refers to Delbert as a Texas blues man...huh? Somebody should have told Stevie Ray Vaughan, Freddie King and Johnny Winter. Those guys are Texas bluesmen.

This offering is just bland. The songs all sound alike and after just a couple of numbers, the repetition made me want to eject the disc. Wanting to be fair and hoping things would get better, I struggled through the hour. As someone else said, leave the cow bell alone, especially if you can't count to four (he was out of the tunes time, each time he used it). The lead brass sax man is B-O-R-I-N-G too!

I read his "resume" on Wikipedia...perhaps he improved since this 1982 show? Also note that another reviewer said, "Sonny Boy Williamson: John Lennon Connection". According to Wikipedia: "A persistent urban legend holds that McClinton taught John Lennon to play the harmonica, resulting in the sound heard on The Beatles' hit "Love Me Do"; the two did meet, but Lennon already knew how to play the harmonica."

Things like this mislead potential buyers, expecting more. In my profile, you may note that as well as being a singer, I too play the Mississippi saxophone (harmonica) and know a good player when I hear one. Delbert, at least at this point of his career, isn't close to top tier (such as John Mayall, Paul Butterfield or Sonny Boy Williamson).


I suggest Mr. McClinton head back to Nashville. I don't care where he's from, because there wasn't one number that reminded this old blues lover of the Texas Blues Sound!

I'll be re-gifting this one!!!