Customer Reviews

Ed's Not Dead: Hamell Comes Alive

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I've seen Hamell on Trial Live a dozen times & I'd travel anywhere to see him again...Anywhere...Finally A live album that captures his talent & personal warmth & sense of humor...This is a great great live document of a one-man band in well-worn shoes.
I recommend spending your last lone dollars on this CD - I did.

Ed's Not Dead chronicles his year of opening up for everyone's favorite Righteous Babe: Ani. This album shows Ed in his natural environment: one man, one amp, and one old battered acoustic. We also get Ed's witty banter in-between songs as he screams through his set giving a metaphoric 411 on the times with an ensemble of power and performance that would make any person stand up and cheer.

Ed spans every record on this album... bringing new life to old songs and bringing some new ones in along the way. With his quick draw guitar he polishes off his set with an ode to a childhood hero: Johnny Cash with his rendition of Folsom Prison Blues. Also on the album is a version of 'I'm gonna watch you sleep' featuring Ani Difranco backing up our outspoken New Yorker on the Drums.

Through songs like '7 Seas' and 'John Lennon' we get the sense of his presence on stage as well as how this man works the crowd... through commentary and short stories about his former years we get a sense that Hamell has only begun to find his niche within the ears of our society. A fan favorite on this album (even mentioned by Hamell) is 'I Hate Your Kid' and of course 'Big As Life'... "Miles Davis never rang my phone off the hook and I'm not anticipating any phone calls from Spike Lee"... Hamell sings about racial tensions perpetrated by Time Magazine by portraying all black people as crack smokers.

Label him what you will Ed Hamell is ushering us into the next step on folk music's evolutionary ladder... with songs like 'The Meeting'... Where he proclaims: "It's one guy and one Guitar... so it's gotta be folk, oh man how wrong they are." Then later another comment on his own brand of music: "If it's Kumbaya then the World Trade Center is a shack... if it's Puff the Magic Dragon then Picasso is a hack." Hamell moves across the country playing his music and where Jack Kerouac did it with a pen, Hamell continues it with a guitar.

If you're looking for something different... then you've come no further. This music defies the label and shows the dexterity of one man's views against corporate America, stereotypes, and being who you are in an over classified world. Looking for something that will take your mind off life for a while... settle this album into your Stereo and get ready for a ride, raw live and uncensored!!

I love this album. Ed Hamell (the one man genius behind Hamell on Trial) is AMAZING and this CD captures him at his best: live, raw, loud, with stories and jokes in between songs about a life so many of us can only imagine. I highly recommend this CD.

I cannot recommend this disc highly enough.The sound is excellent,clearer,sharper and better than almost any other live recording I have ever heard.
Recorded during his April 2000 tour with Ani Difranco the song selection covers most of his solo career and also features 3 previously unreleased songs.His inbetween song dialogue is hilarious and you even get a free comic book written and drawn by Ed Hamell himself !
His voice rings out above his machinegun guitar on many tracks and then blends with it for songs like "Some Hearts",a brilliant new song of compassion and understanding.The 3 tracks from "Choochtown" are superb and one even features Ani Difranco on drums.
I guess I should point out that his language is definately for adults only.But then again the themes of the songs are adult orientated as well.
This recording works on many levels all at once
there's humour,sadness,great stories and rockin' good music.It feeds the mind,the heart and the soul.Whilst your feet tap,your body sways and your head nods.What more can I say except Buy this you owe it to yourself.
My only criticism is IT SHOULD HAVE BEEN A DOUBLE CD

All the songs from this CD are the ones that I saw of him play Live when he was opening for Ani. This guy rocks the house. Great personal stories put to music. If there is any emotion in you, your going to feel it. Sadness, Anger, Humor, etc... One of my top 20 CD's of all time. GET IT IF YOU CAN!