Customer Reviews

Final Tour

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is one of the 3 or 4 best albums of any genre that I've ever heard. If that sounds like hyperbole, I'm sorry, but Ted Hawkins had it all: emotional directness, great taste in covers, perfect pitch, wonderful playing--he had it all in a way very few musicians do. His interpretive efforts are as strong as any by giants like Otis Redding and Patsy Cline. What clinches it for me is his songwriting: besides being emotionally mature and honest, it's incredibly literate and fresh. I mean, "The Good and the Bad" alone has several classic lines; when you hear him sing that "Sugar is noooooo gooood/Once it's cast among the white sands"--wow. His songs stand right up to his covers: when you can write as well as Jesse Winchester and John Fogerty, well that's sayin' something. I've been a fan since 1986 (Happy Hour): this is his best work, although it leaves a few classics off.

This is a great live album by one of the best voices in blues..uh soul...uh r&b...pop. And there's the rub. This was a man you couldn't put a label to. Which is why he remained a starving artist almost until the day he died. Which was way too soon for this great of a live entertainer. Hawkins could make his voice do just about anything. A very versatile singer who could run through a gamut of emotions in just one song. One of the best examples of this is his wonderful acappella version of John Fogerty's "As Long As I See The Light". This song alone is worth the price of admission here. Although he leaves a few of my faves off here, most notably "Happy Hour" and "Who Got My Natural Comb", he still gives us some of his most memorable like "Watch Your Step", "Revenge Of The Scorpio", and "Biloxi". The sound quality on this cd is excellent. It was recorded in 3 different venues. I especially liked the 3 songs he does in the Wisconsin University Auditorium, where you get the echo affect from his larger than life voice. The man could sing. It didn't matter if he was walking the sands of Venice Beach with his guitar, or playing a big room, Ted Hawkins always sounded like he was giving it all. There isn't anything slick or fancy here. Just a man and his guitar. This is a wonderful last hurrah from one of the most soulful singers ever.

Finding Ted's final album in a store in Boston on my first US trip, I stood for over an hour, headphones clasped to my head, amazed at the warmth and openness of every track.

My wife and I had seen Ted only once, in Southport, England nearly 10 years ago, but we had never forgotten his music.

I hadn't heard the first song he sang in Southport since that night, but when Ted began Missing Mississippi on track 19, the great paddle wheels of the river turned just like they had done all those years before.

Robeson singing 'the folks I used to know'; Belafonte at Carnegie Hall; surely, Ted's sometimes beautiful, and perhaps more importantly, always honest rendition of his own and others' songs, is a life giving event of equal greatness.

After an hour or so, the CD came to an end. I wiped away a small tear and bought 2 copies - one for my wife and one for my father - it was the least I could do. As a child, our home was filled with the sound of Johnny Cash, Charley Pride and Creedence Clearwater Revival - all reborn in Ted's inspired interpretations.

The vintage busker from Venice, California, sits himself on a milk crate and with the support of his guitar he belts out a few memorial street ballads. From his very own compositions, he sings of love, jealousy and the whole damn thing. But what makes this man unique is his aging raspy voice that entices you to listen to this wise old man who has plenty to say. In LADDER OF SUCCESS he hands out his advice on how to make it to the top of the hills. "No matter what you know, you got to know somebody who knows somebody to lend you a helping hand,"and that is the key to the entertainment industry. He also manages to leave a lump in your throat when he bellows out those words of passion, "Baby!" in STRANGE CONVERSATION.

Then you find yourself musing over SORRY YOU'RE SICK, "What do you want from the liquor store? Something sour, something sweet? I'll buy you all your belly will hold, you can be sure you won't suffer no more." Ted Hawkins died in 1995 after recording this last album. His career had just kick started and he had places to go. In BIG THINGS, he tells us that he needs to keep on moving on because he has been fooling around for too long and now it's time to write songs with stories to tell that will live on after his death. And yes, they do live on in this classic album.

Stripped-down, heartfelt music played to an appreciative club audience. Hawkins was a pure entertainer, and his original compositions are the essence of American folk.

If you never had the honour or pleasure of going to a Ted Hawkins gig this is a MUST BUY, if you did then it is a DEFINITELY MUST BUY!

The tracks will be well known to Ted Hawkins followers, but as they are live they are taken onto a whole new level. But they are not to be considered as mearly buying to complete the collection, they are works of art in there own right.

There are sad songs (Missin' Mississippi), happy songs( Groovy Little Things) even amusing songs (Bad Dog).

But without a shadow of a doubt the jewel is Long as I Can See The Light, this must be the best version (by anyone) of the song I have heard, and is a perfect example of Teds legendary perfect pitch.

The music is true to the spirit of his concerts and a fitting tribute to his memory, more than adequately presents the full range of Ted's ability and repertoire

This guy sings about love with such insight and passion and tenderness you start to miss everyone you've ever loved and don't see any more. His voice is grainy and soft at the same time, with a range that will knock your socks off. I love this music. So tender, so simple, so evocative. This is classic American folk/blues.

This one however stands head and shoulders above the crowd musically. The man's voice is a godsend. I still remember the first time I heard it: I was working at an Amoco station on the interstate and late at night I would change the station to play the local College radio and one night while I was cleaning I heard "Biloxi", I called the radio station to find out who the hell it was. Since then I've owned 'The Next Hundred Years' (the Mobile fidelity gold version with "Corrina Corrina") and also 'Songs from Venice Beach', but this is the one that does it for me in both tone and mood. This is Ted content and yet still burning with what makes him happy, entertaining. It's also a collection of great songs. Desert island music. "Theeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeere stands the glass!"

I't's hard to entertain somebody with just a guitar and nothing else, but ted hawkins does it wonderfully on this album. His voice is often compared to Sam Cooke, but I think thats not really accurate, its a much deeper more soulful raspier voice than sam cooke. It sounds kind of like otis redding if otis sang melodically like he did on Sitting on a Dock of a Bay; Hawkins is one of the most soulful voices you will ever hear. That part in Bring it on Home to Daddy where He says "I'm so helplessly in love with you" Is one of the most soulful lines in a song I've ever heard. He really has just a perfect voice. I'm not a big fan of the huge soul arrangements with all the horns and everything, if you're like me, you'll love this album. To me Hawkins voice combines all the best voices in soul music in one, and his guitar goes along nicely. This is really music at its best, I can't think of an album I enjoy listening to more than this one. New artists like Ben Harper and Ray Lamontagne try to copy music like this, and those guys are enjoyable, but Hawkins somehow sounds more genuine and deeper, it really hits you on a very deep level, you can tell that the songs are Hawkins salvation, I think that probably comes from being a street musician his whole life instead of a studio musician, the desperation and resilience and happiness come through and I can't really think of any other way to describe it, you just have to listen for yourself, you won't regret it!

Took me two listenings to get into this cd that a friend reccomended. Now I can't get it out of my head. Good late nite traveling music.