Customer Reviews

John Prine Live

5 star:		(12)
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I first heard John Prine one hot August afternoon driving home from work. I had a horrible day at the office and traffic was a mess. Scanning the radio, I heard 'Hello in There' - the final track on this album and it just stopped me in my tracks. I immediately bought this album and loved every song. Ten years later, I still haven't grown tired of it. As a Gen Xer, I recommend that younger people listen to John. I just saw him in concert last week at the Berkely Music School in Boston and he's incredibly dynamic in concert. Thanks for the music, John.

my girlfriend hates this one, maybe i should get rid of her. me i love the thing. the stories this guy can tell. reminds me of a saturday night when the suds were flowing and your best friend was telling all the wacky stories he had lived or had the nerve to make up. This record sounds like a few friends just hanging out and talking about old times and whats happened since last seeing each other. it's all so intimate and close, you forget he's playing to a few thousand people. i am sure everyone in the audience thought the songs were performed for them and isn't that the whole point of a live album.

I keep this CD in my car and crank it up like a kid, re-upping my favorite cuts a couple of times each trip.

There are wonderful renditions of these classic Prine songs; but the duet with the late Steve Goodman on "Souvenirs" out shines them all, with such intricate, exuberant guitar work it's hard to believe. Check it out.

I only wish he'd added his take on Goodman's "My Old Man," which I have a hard time getting through without choking up (give "Tribute to Steve Goodman," a try; it's available through Amazon).

This could be his best overall record. The songs about stories. The stories about songs. The stripped down production. Great, great CD. Highly recommended as either a Prine kickstart or an addition to a collection.

Hardly anyone ever talks about this album, but it is among Prine's finest--for no other reason than it's laid back production. Many of his tunes--that were ruined by well meaning producers early-on at Asylum records--are presented in a much better format here. "Mexican Home," for instance, sounds much sweeter and more meaningful than the over-produced version on "Sweet Revenge." This album was unplugged in 1989, before unplugged was cool.

...then this is the one. I have been a fan of John Prine's songs for many years, and I believe this album serves them the best. He is without a doubt one of the great songwriters of our time, but he has had two things working against him: the cloying production that plagued many singer-songwriter albums from the 70s and his rather limited vocal talents. This album rectifies the first fault by placing him in a warm intimate concert setting which complement his songs very well. As for his voice, I have never heard it sound better. By this time (mid-1980s), it has become just weathered enough but not too raspy as it would later become. The live setting of course also affords this rather personable singer to spin tales between songs about how each of them was written, and I can tell you that after hundreds of listens I still find those stories charming, particularly the one about the girl who wanted to hear a song about a "happy enchilada".

The music of course is the best that Prine had written to date. It serves as a de facto greatest hits package with better production. My favorites include "Donald and Lydia" and his duet with Bonnie Raitt, "Angel from Montgomery". This is definitely the album to start with, and if you're a John Prine fan without this album then you definitely need to buy it. You won't be sorry.

i was introduced to John Prine by my father when i was wee lad of 6 or 7. My sister and I loved the humor of Bruised Orange. As I matured I discovered the depth of his lyrics and i bought this album for my Dad when i was about 15. Its hard to put into words what Prine is seemingly effortlessly able to convey through his at once simple yet incredibly deep lyrics. This album pairs it down to the simple basics. Lyrically he is my all time favorite. Gut wrenching yet accesible stories about the dark, light and truthful epic that is our lives. Im shocked there are only a handfull of reviews to this testament to sheer lyrical brilliance. John doesnt have a great voice or virtuoso musical ability but it hardly matters when he can spit these lyrical gems seemingly at will. He can make you laugh, cry and sit in amazement as he belts out his heartfelt tunes. "It's nothing....it really is nothing" he tells the audience as he uses his three chords to enchant and enthrall. "Angel from Montgomery" is worth the price of admission where Bonnie Raitt accompanies him with the vocal passion that Prine lacks yet inspires her to with lines like, "How the Hell can a person, go to work in the morning, come home in the evening, and have nothing to say." Prine is a lyrical GENIUS! His albums may not have the production or musical sophistication of others but he hardly requires such embellishments when the songs stand on their own. If you want to check out one of the true masters of storytelling via song, buy and listen to this album over and over and over again.

This CD has some of John Prine's most famous songs -- it's fun and a good one to buy if you're new to Prine's music. John Prine is one of the greatest song writers around -- he translates ordinary experiences into extraordinary songs of the human condition; songs that resonate with his listeners -- songs that lift the human spirit or sometimes, like a well-focused lense, expose the underbelly . . .

This album is probably worth the price just for the anecdote Prine tells on "That's the Way the World Goes Round" (about a woman who misunderstood the lyric "half an inch of water" and asked him to sing his song about the "happy enchilada").

That anecdote makes a larger point about Prine. There's something amusing, if not altogether clear, about his lyrics. They're often kind of goofy and cockeyed. They're wordplays, and somehow they make for marvelous, intricate poetry, but you can't take them literally. You have to rely on the "feel" of the songs, and there are a couple of almost heart-breaking, musically gorgeous numbers here: "Blue Umbrella" and "The Speed of the Sound of Loneliness," the latter of which is one of the marvels of American music.

Still, the humor's the best part, and there are some great, funny, straightforward stories here, such as the account of the Indian actor Sabu going on a promotional tour in the Midwest in winter and one about an accident in which nobody was seriously hurt. There's also Prine's observation on how hokey the future is turning out to be.

The is his best album, an excellent survey of the first half of his career, before he ran out of creative steam. The low point is when he is joined onstage by Bonnie Raitt on "Angel From Montgomery." She, of course, dominates the number. As great a songwriter as Prine is, I haven't heard many covers of his songs. His talents are too distinctive for that, and they are exhibited to near perfection here.

And one which I acquired at the very BEGINNING of his career. He came up from from Chicago to Milwaukee to perform at Summerfest back in 1972, and played on a TINY little stage, not the main one. I was somehow lucky enough to find him there, and have been hooked on his un-classifiable style(s) of music ever since. John can't sing any better than your average mailman, but *OH BOY* (the name of his record company) can he write a song that hits the mark for almost everyone!

This CD showcases him in different sized venues over a timespan of a few years, and he sounds just great (for a given value of 'great' - see mailman comment above...), and displays his trademark sense of humor and his very serious side on his goofy and serious tunes - if you like JP already, you're gonna LOVE this one!