Customer Reviews

Face to Face Live

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For years, AWB has been synonymous with funk and blue-eyed soul. The band reformed in the late 80s and have continued to please with new releases. This CD features songs from a performance at The Fillmore in San Francisco and is a great mix of the old hits (Pick up the Pieces, Got the Love) and new songs from the excellent SOUL TATTOO. The performance is tight and funky, and the new lineup works wonders together. Saxophonist Freddy V. is an instant hit, and the multi-talented Eliot Lewis is a revelation - he takes the Hamish Stuart vocal parts and makes them his own. He's also an accomplished songwriter -- check out Back to Basics for evidence. This disc is a must for all AWB fans and anyone who loves good songs well performed. (And be sure to see AWB when they come to your town. The lineup now includes an amazing young drummer, Adam "Bomb" Deitch, and they sound better than ever!)

In 1973 AWB released a much better live album, "Person To Person", which this record strives to fly in the face of 26 years after their prime. With a group almost half its size, this show gives us a band that knows tha songs and has the chops, but lacks the wall of sound a full complement used to bring to these tracks. When you hear 1 person trying to sing the chorus of "Love of Your Own", it just doesn't ring true.

Nice try, but the older one is one of the best live albums there is, not just the better live AWB record.