Down Home Live [Live]

Buckwheat Zydeco | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (April 24, 2001)
• Original Release Date: 2000
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Live
• Label: Tomorrow Recordings
• ASIN: B00005AVO6
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Audio Cassette
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #223,155 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Soul Serenade (Buck's Intro)

2. What Are You Gonna Do?

3. Hard To Stop

4. Walking To New Orleans

5. Trouble

6. Make A Change

7. Put It In The Pocket

8. Out On The Town

9. Beast Of Burden

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Stanley "Buckwheat" Dural didn't spend the evening of Thanksgiving 2000 in a turkey-laden stupor. Instead, the longtime leader of Buckwheat Zydeco led his band through this typically high-energy set, recorded in his birthplace of Lafayette, Louisiana. The mode here is extended cuts--the shortest one clocks in at five and a half minutes--that allow the band to shuffle as long as there are dancers on the floor. While the amped-up bottom that Dural helped bring to zydeco is here--as is an R&B horn section that makes a cover of King Curtis's "Soul Serenade" sound like the product of a bayou-bred Van Morrison--Down Home Live! concentrates mostly on originals that bring plenty of Cajun flavor. (One of two other remakes, Fats Domino's "Walkin' to New Orleans," replaces the master's piano with Dural's accordion and the rubboard of son Sir Reginald Master Dural.) This could've been one of those in-concert discs that screams "You had to be there," but the sound and feeling are so vivid that you might end up feeling like you were. --Rickey Wright

Product Description

Live from Louisiana's Creole Country comes Buckwheat Zydeco’s "Down Home Live!," the first-ever live album of zydeco's best-loved ambassador, Buckwheat Zydeco. "Down Home Live!," is a record of rollicking good times tracked in the intimate confines of El Sid O's Zydeco & Blues Club during a hometown break for the barnstorming bandleader's annual Thanksgiving show in Lafayette, La.

Blues Access, in a cover story and lead review, said: "The good-natured energy that literally pops off of this disc immediately makes you wish you had been at El Sid O’s to witness the show in person. But you’ll be glad to have this document of the event that catches not only every feel-good note but the essential ‘vibe’ of the evening as well ... it’s impossible to resist being caught up in the sheer sense of fun and release (it) draws you into."

From the powerhouse dance floor boogie of "What You Gonna Do?" to the majestic soul of Dural's brilliant reading of "Beast of Burden," the band does it all. The group even revisits their inventive reworking of Fats Domino's "Walking to New Orleans" and Dural's reggae-tinged zyde-soul anthem "Make A Change."

The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and others have called Buckwheat Zydeco "one of the best party bands in America," and now music fans need venture no farther than their CD players to find out what all the fuss is about.

" Down Home Live!" showcases the show-stopping dynamics that've turned countless curious listeners and concert-goers into full-fledged zydeco fanatics. This is also the disc the converted have been waiting for, as it captures Buck’s irresistible personality, bottling the between-song patter, soaring solos and horn-driven workouts that are this legendary live act's trademarks.

See all Editorial Reviews

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars If you close your eyes, you would swear you're there!, April 27, 2001

By 

adam lasser (gillette, nj United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Down Home Live (Audio CD)

I've seen Buckwheat perform live at the NJ Crawfish Festival a number of times. His energy, crowd interaction, and old-fashioned Louisiana entertainment style make his live performances wonderfully refreshing and down-to-earth. This CD captures all these great attributes. From his comments to the crowd ("Somebody Scream!" and "A Tois", for example), to the traditional way his band starts most of the tracks, you really feel the down-home, Lafayette, LA warmth. The jams on all songs are great, and would be excellent background music for any upbeat party. The recording quality is crystal-clear. My only complaint would be that the horn section, in some of cuts, is not always as highlighted as in some studio versions of the same songs. The liner notes help complete the listener's journey to Buckewheat's home, and El Sid O's club, the venue for the recordings.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Oh Lordy, Oh Lordy, let's start the PARTY!!!, May 21, 2001

By 

Bob Nowak (Houston, TX USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Down Home Live (Audio CD)

This live CD is the next best thing to being there! No band is more consistently entertaining live than Buckwheat and his Ils Sont Partis Band. I first saw Buckwheat in concert Houston in 1987, and the energy back then at his live show is just as great as it is from El Sido's last Thanksgiving. Mike Melchione's guitar solos on "Beast of Burden" rival solos by Stevie Ray Vaughan and Albert Collins. That smile on Buckwheat's face on the cover is contagious and shows he's having as much fun as everyone in the room, despite having a 35 pound accordion strapped to his back about 200 nights a year. This is one of the funnest live CDs I've ever listened to, especially at the ear ringing levels of my car stereo. I only wish it were a double live CD to hear more of his fabulous music.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Soulful Zydeco!, September 28, 2001

By 

SIMON AGUILAR-GARCIA (Seattle, Wa. USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Down Home Live (Audio CD)

One of my favorite Zydeco cd's of all time! Pure party music with some serious accordian playing, tight band, high energy and soulful singing that reach down deep into your soul! Saw him at The Jammin' for Salmon festival in Portland, Oregon on August 6, 2001 and he was the only artist at the festival who got the crowd into a dancing frenzy and put smiles on everyone! I had the opportunity to meet him and take a photo with him (a very nice man!), I have that photo online on my webpage. Play him often on The Crazy Coyote Blues and Jazz Power Show 1490 KOTY in southcentral Wa. state.