Customer Reviews

Life Is Worth Losing

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

The tone of the CD shows right on the package: black and white photo, simple tracklisting on the back. The wackiness and "color" of his earlier decades has bled away, and now Carlin gets down to business the same way he did on "Jammin' in New York" and "Back in Town".

Much of the material addresses murder, suicide and neglect. Different roads lead to the same place. 1) There absolutely IS humor in how we face what we all share - mortality. 2) Why does Carlin lean so heavily on the subject this time around? THERE ARE MANY MORE DAYS BEHIND HIM THAN AHEAD OF HIM. Go with a smile, or go in denial. Carlin chooses the former.

"A Modern Man" is a cute loose-rhyme opening in exactly the same style as his previous "Advertising Lullaby". I started laughing really hard at the midway point, with "Dumb Americans". The first half relies upon what Carlin has offered since the '80s. So, "Dumb Americans" is the first peak, and he peaks again with the closing "Coast-To-Coast Emergency". The last piece paints an apocalyptic picture of how this sick, twisted universe can die and return as a better one.

My only disappointment is the FBI Anti-Piracy Warning on the back of the CD case. Invoking a government emblem to discourage unlawful behavior totally undermines an anti-establishment schtick. It's no different for Carlin than it is for A Perfect Circle.

This album doesn't introduce a lot of new material, but that's only because when Carlin holds a mirror to America, the view hasn't changed in at least 25 years.

This CD will go down as one of the least funny Carlin CD's. Very few belly laughs in this one, some might not even laugh once throughout the entire thing. So why 4 stars? Because I have never heard a better examination of American life by anybody. George shows us a man who has lived through America in its best and worst times and his examination into our need for consumption is thought provoking. While death is the overall motif of the CD, almost everything ties back into how over privelleged we all are and how truly animalistic human behavior is.

Far too often, George Carlin's recent work is compared to his work of the 1960s and 1970s. I think some people have not fully come to terms with the transition GC has made. He no longer is "class clown" (and hasnt been for about 15 years). He is a full blown cynic, angry, creative, and much more condescending than he was in the past.

I think there are a couple of reviews out there that dont take into account that, well, the truth is, Carlin is getting older. Not to say that he is irrelevant now. Just that the same zing and etc that used to be in his live performance is gone a bit. I saw the performance at the Beacon Theatre just before LIWL was filmed. He actually forgot some of the jokes and you could tell that his timing was off a little. (To be fair, he had only shortly before been released from a hospital for pneumonia and heart problems.)

Now that does not mean that his material is any weaker. It may mean though that Carlin is not as "fun" to listen to as in the past--at least in the form of a full blown stand-up show. His material is still great--he opened the show woth a word for word rendition of A Modern Man from When Will Jesus Bring the Pork Chops? But when he starts the "offensive" material, it loses just a little zip because it is coming from a person who now sounds like they are a senior citizen. Up until his last album, Carlin seemed to have the youth and vigor of a man half his age. Time is catching up to him a little. Can you imagine what Andrew Dice Clay would sound like if he was 70 yrs old and talking about 20 yr old women?

Nevertheless, Carlin's material is fresh, observant, and thankfully, hysterical. I laughed aloud often during the show because he is still the greatest comedian around today, hands down and his material proves it. But like professional atheletes, there comes a time when audiences start to say, "so-and-so is losing it." I think it is fair to say that Carlin win will more awards for his books and related materials than he will for his live performances from now on.

Treat yourself to a good laugh and buy the album. Just cut the man some slack! He can perform until he has to be wheeled out there and nurses have to move his lips for him to speak. He's that funny. And rejoyce in the fact that in a recent Playboy interview, it was revealed that Carlin had enough written material on his computer hard drive for something like 10 books.

George Carlin is effectively a comedian without equal, in respects to the longevity of his career alone. The nature, subject matter, and tone of his performances have changed radically and often over the course of the last half century, and understandably so. Carlin is a committed entertainer who is not content to rehash old favorites and rely on nostalgia and feigned interest for a comedic dinosaur to make ends meet. This man is not Bob Hope. Rather, Carlin is an innovator, his act evolves with his perceptions, which have become increasingly cynical as of late, a reactionary shift to the stubbornly regressive mind-set of the American public, their government, religion, and culture at large. His work in the angry comedy of the 1980's, developed by men like Bill Hicks and Sam Kinison, as well as himself, is perfected here in a comedy show that borderlines on anger therapy. The humor is read between the lines of his frustration and rantings, and thus this is a show that is very much a culmination of a decades long shift toward a much more unsettling narrative. 'Life' is not a show everyone will embrace, even amongst Carlin faithful, as it is the most abrasive show he has ever done, but there is still that dark brilliance of so gleefully slaughtering so many sacred cows, while still managing to have a point.

Haven't gotten my CD yet, so I can't comment on the conversion from live video to disc, but I've seen the material on HBO as well as live. Life Is Worth Losing further develops the cynical perspective first fully introduced in You Are All Diseased. The comic poem (A Modern Man) at the start of the album is classic Carlin wordplay, but everything that follows it is extreme in subject matter. Few comics dare to touch topics such as torture, suicide and necrophilia. That Carlin can make such topics amusing is impressive, but still more impressive is the emotional energy he continues to project in spite of his age. And rather than just make wisecracks about controversial topics, he ties it in to his personal philosophy, as an "entropy fan"- the surprisingly logical, natural and practical perspective that drives him to root for natural disasters, the collapse of nation states and the extinction of species. Interestingly, this album focuses less on the machinations of corporations, politicians and preachers than most past Carlin. It instead mostly examines the dysfunctions of individual humanity.

Carlin purists longing for a return to the subtle satire and middleground observations of 70s and 80s Carlin material will be disgusted by this. But if you liked the assaultive tone of "Complaints and Greivances", you need this album.

The only thing that prevents me from giving this 5 stars is the last track, I don't feel that George finishes the CD out strong. But, that having been said, this is a great show all in all. Not every track is funny, but they are all very thought provoking and it is nearly impossible to argue 99.9% of Carlin's points. The dumb Americans, necrophilia, and natural disasters segments are classic hilarious Carlin. I still have no idea how he delivers the Modern Man piece so perfectly without one slip up. It's incredible the way his mind works. This man is simply a genius and I hope he keeps going strong for years to come!!

Overall not his best work but considering the many years he has been a comedian i say job well done. This is darker more sarcastic humor but it is his evolution as a comic. Some people do not like it , other do. I am neutral on it. I would prefer that he always be himself and write and talk about things that are in his mind. I wouldn't like it if he were more optimistic in his routine for the sake of pleasing more people. He has never sold himself out and i don't think he ever will.

George's last CD sounded like somebody had gotten to him. It was vaguely apologetic, and almost felt like he was trying to recall his "Hippy Dippy" days so as to avoid persecution by the Neocons who are currently destroying the planet. Not good. Not funny. Not at all George-like.

This CD is George at his acidic best. Gone is the unfocused rage of "You Are All Diseased," wherein his observations were hurtful but not particularly well-grounded nor all that funny. He's a lot calmer this time around, and therefore a lot funnier. Carlin realized a long time ago that we humans are indeed doomed and manages to be amused by our self-inflicted demise. Excellent stuff. Painfully, inescapably accurate and therefore tremendously funny to those of us capable of laughing at our own colossal failure as a species.

People who don't like, are offended by, or who do not bust a gut laughing at some of George's more trenchant observations on this CD probably wear backpacks to keep their hands free so they can stuff their faces with ever-increasing amounts of disgusting food.

I don't care who wants to bash him George Carlin still has the edge and can easily find humor in things that most comics wouldn't touch with a forty foot pole. George is an honest no BS comic who tells it like it is even if we don't want to hear it. This album is George's cynical view of the world we live in. Many tell me Richard Pryor is the best comic I say nuts to that he was a good comic but he gave up what made him funny to become a lame movie star. George knew their is only one thing he truly does good and continues to do it to this day. All in all not his best but still great.

Life is Worth Losing is not so much an inferior Carlin show as it is different. Rather than really sharp, well timed and harshly presented comedy like that from You Are All Diseased and Complaints and Grievances, it is a more ranting, profound nad philosophical humor. In his old age, his failing health and his rehabilitation seem to reduce the sharpness and harshness of his comedic routines. Instead, he opts for something more befitting his physical condition, a misanthropic, satirical speech.

I admit that the first time I saw it I didn't find it as funny as previous shows. But then I saw it on again a few weeks ago and I found it extremely amusing that time around. I began to accept the type of humor that was centered on a single topic rather than to hope for something else. There are fewer bland 1-liners in this than in any of his other shows. The jokes are not your typical "story-punchline" jokes. It requires more thought on the viewers part and yes, it mercilessly bashes almost every aspect and member of society and therefore requires some nerve and thick skin on your part.

It is as he says specifically in the show, "everything has been polished up now"..."it's one of those things Americans can't handle 'we can't handle that.'"