Customer Reviews

Live (2CD)

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Amazon's listing is for "Live and Acoustic"; here is the 2 CD track list:
CD 1
1. The Last Horizon
2. These Are The Changes
3. Goodbye Baby Blue
4. In The Air Tonight
5. Carpet Crawlers
6. Ever The Reason
7. Story (about the first gig with Genesis in front of the media performing Domino)
8. Follow You Follow Me
9. Sarah
10. Change
11. Another Day
12. Magic Train
13. Sunshine And Butterflies
14. Inside
15. Footsteps
16. I Can't Dance
17. Gypsy
CD 2
1. The Actor
2. Alone
3. Ripples
4. Along The Way
5. Biko
6. Lovers Leap
7. No Son Of Mine
8. Shipwrecked
9. Not About Us
10. Sometimes
11. The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway
12. Swing Your Bag
13. Knockin' On Heaven's Door
14. The Airport Song
15. Rest In Peace

The career of Ray Wilson can best be summed up as being as close to a rollercoaster as any career in the 1990s. Ray Wilson rose to fame in the early 1990s as the front-man for Stiltskin. But Wilson is best known for being the vocalist selected by Tony Banks and Mike Rutherford to replace Phil Collins as lead singer of Genesis. As a member of Genesis, Wilson was part of a very underappreciated effort called "Calling All Stations". I personally think that "Calling All Stations" was an excellent album, but the album didn't do well commercially - particularly in the United States. As a result, Wilson took the fall and that would be the only album he would do as a part of Genesis. Despite no longer being a part of Genesis, Ray has kept busy - as a frontman for the group Cut, participating on the Scorpions album "Moment of Glory", and of course a solo career. Ray Wilson "Live and Acoustic" represents a terrific cross section of all of the music collaborations that Wilson has been a part of. It was recorded when Wilson played the Edinburgh International Festival in a true "Unplugged" setting. In fact, this album was also released under the title "Ray Wilson - Unplugged". The result is a performance that gives you a true up close and personal of Wilson himself.

There are several things that make this a terrific performance. First the "Unplugged" setting itself. This is a performance that consists of vocals and guitars - and nothing more. There is no Bass, no percussion. Wilson does use some other vocalists (Amanda Lynn and Steve Wilson) and has some help on guitar (Steve Wilson). But most of this performance focuses on Wilson himself. The "Unplugged" setting works real well with Wilson's voice as he is able to quickly make you forget that there isn't much else besides a guitar on this performance. The second thing is the way Ray will communicate with the audience throughout the show. He gives the audience background on a lot of songs. You will get a real sense of connection with Wilson as the performance goes on. The third is that Wilson really gives you a great cross section of his career and some of the artists that influenced his career. You will hear songs that Wilson did with Guaranteed Pure, Stiltskin, Genesis (pre Wilson and Wilson era), Cut, and solo stuff. You will also hear covers of Bob Dylan ("Forever Young"), The Eagles ("Desperado"), Phil Collins Solo Work ("In the Air Tonight"), Bruce Springsteen ("Born to Run"), and Peter Gabriel ("Biko").

Another nice thing about this set is that it gives you the concert experience. Much of this is due to the intimate setting of the performance that is captured so well on this recording. However, the nice thing is that the songs are presented in the actual order of which they were performed. Many Live CDs make the mistake of reordering the songs or collecting songs from different nights of the performance - the result of this often is a recording that lacks continuity. Not such the case with this collection - the continuity isn't lost at all. In fact you even are told when the main set ends (with "Biko") and when the encores begin. On the "Unplugged" version of this CD, there is one strange thing: "Mama" kicks off the encore set. Following "Mama" there is 3 minutes of nothing (i.e. no sound) before "Forever Young" starts. I'm not sure why this was done. Right before the final song there is 30 seconds of nothing (again no sound) before "The Airport Song". Perhaps these songs are out of order or from other nights (although its hard to tell). Another strange thing is that "Mama", "Forever Young", "Desperado", "Born to Run", and "The Airport Song" are on the same track (i.e Track 14).

Wilson does a good job at using the "Unplugged" setting and is able to pull off many of the covers with some new twists. Wilson's cover of "In the Air Tonight" has no drums - which is a staple of the song. However, the combination of Wilson's vocals with some solid acoustic guitar work make up for the absence of percussion and give a whole new twist to the song. On Wilson's cover of Springsteen's "Born to Run", the acoustic guitar does a great job at replacing the electric guitars - plus Wilson's raspy voice lends itself well to Springsteen. Even on Wilson's cover of "Mama", he nails down the haunting laugh that Phil Collins did perfectly (he must have been able to nail this down from his Genesis days). Wilson has a haunting voice on many of his songs - and as a result it lends itself very well to covering Peter Gabriel's "Biko". The most interesting cover is "Desperado". This is a true a cappella version - there are NO instruments whatsoever used - only Wilson's voice. Wilson's octave ranges again find away to pull this off.

If you aren't familiar with Wilson's own music, this collection will provide a great introduction. "Swing Your Bag", which Wilson did as part of Guaranteed Pure has a true alley-cat/swing theme. Wilson's original (and new) song - "The Airport Song" is a humorous experience about being stuck in an airport (even Wilson points fun at it) - almost a cross between Lou Reed and some folk music. There also is a new song called "Sarah" which isn't bad. There are two terrific Stiltskin tracks ("Inside" and "Rest in Peace") and two Wilson-era Genesis cuts ("Shipwrecked" and "Not About Us").

My CD didn't come with much in the way of liner notes. There are no lyrics included. Musician and production credits are given with some acknowledgements. There is a short writeup (1 paragraph) about Ray Wilson and this particular performance. This is a very good acoustic performance. I'd highly recommend it.

All I can say is "WOW, what a voice". The first solo effort from the former lead singer for Guaranteed Pure (Swing Your Bag), Stiltskin (Mind's Eye), Genesis (Calling All Stations), and Cut (Millionairhead) is not to be missed. Ray Wilson has given the acoustic treatment to several tracks from his former bands, as well as others, with excellent results. Who would have believed that Mama could be done acoustically, yet it works. It's just as dark and sinister as the original. Ray Wilson shows his sense of humor by including tracks like Swing Your Bag and the Airport Song. I'm sure nowadays a lot of people can relate to that last one! Sarah and Gypsy are outstanding but the real prize goes to the acapella version of Desperado. Wow, what a voice!

This is an excellent live album from Ray Wilson and his band. The sound production top notch and Ray continues to show why he is a first rate musician and excellent live performer.

A total of 32 songs are performed here. Ray's classics like "Ever the Reason" and "Sarah" are included, along with Genesis favorites like "Ripples", "Shipwrecked" and plenty of others. He even throws in his major hit with the band Stiltskin by performing "Swing Your Bag." Ray has the magic of storytelling in his songs that is sorely lacking in many of today's musicians. Thank goodness he continues to perform regularly and crank out great music.

Why Mike Rutherford and Tony Banks of Genesis did not ask Ray to record another Genesis album is beyond me. "Calling All Stations" in 1997 was brilliant, and this live album shows that Ray only gets better with time.

Now Ray, please come tour in North America....:-)

After a couple of years out of the spotlight, Ray Wilson has returned with a bang. This live acoustic setting is his very first solo album and it spans music from all areas of Ray's career. On this CD, Ray revisits his past delightfully from his days as lead singer for Guaranteed Pure ("Swing Your Bag"), Stiltskin ("Inside","Rest In Peace"), Genesis ("Not About Us","Shipwrecked") and Cut ("Sarah","Gypsy","Always in my Heart"). As you probably now can tell, Ray Wilson has had quite a career already. He also does some superb covers of Phil Collins and Peter Gabriel's solo material as well as songs by Bob Dylan ("Forever Young") and Bruce Springsteen ("Born To Run"). His acapella rendering of The Eagles' "Desperado" shows just how dynamic Ray's voice is (Eat your heart out Don Henley). For good measure, Ray also performs Genesis tracks from the earlier years of the band. His takes on "Supper's Ready" and "The Carpet Crawlers" sound eerily reminiscent of Peter Gabriel while his version of "Mama" knocks Phil Collins in the dirt (Sorry Phil).
Ray also displays a good sense of humor throughout this performance cracking jokes and stories at every chance he gets. The closing track, "The Airport Song", displays Ray's humor at his fullest singing in a mock American/Country-Western accent and even going into a brief Bob Dylan impersonation.
"Live and Acoustic" (or "Ray Wilson Unplugged" as it's also called) serves as an excellent introduction to Ray Wilson's music as well as the other bands he has sung with. Ray's talent as a vocalist, songwriter and performer should not be overlooked. So why not start here? You'll be glad you did.

Like many people, I was put off by the "Congo" introduction of Genesis featuring Ray Wilson. I believe they made a grave mistake by selecting that track as the first single. I accidentally came upon the music video for Not About Us. That lead to a Google search so I could find out more about Ray Wilson. Fortunately he is not just a good singer. His own material is very good and he performs a few Genesis songs when on road.

Although it may not be from the same performance, it could be, this set list is found on a live album available from Ray Wilson's website and you can listen to a montage of tracks there. There is a live double album backed by a band that matches this set list. There is also a single disc album that is all acoustic with a different set list.

He does not have the range of either Collins or Gabriel but he is very strong with near perfect tone and leans towards Gabriel's deep textural delivery of melodies. The recording quality of the live tracks is difficult to discern from MP3 samplings streamed on the internet. The sound of the live albums based on the streamed montage at his website is fairly balanced. I have not heard anything that would stop me from a purchase.

There are two other live tracks on his website that are offered as free downloads (Carpet Crawlers and Not About Us). These are from a different performance. The volume of the vocals is a bit low while the piano is too high. The one studio track "Razorlite" is mixed perfectly and is a great song to check out.

Ray Wilson is the greatest. This is a good overview of his solo career with songs during his Genesis days and his time with Stiltskin. He's back with them by the way..

I ordered this CD based on the track listing provided and found that you don't get some of the songs listed ... Mama, Desperado, etc. The music is good, but some of the stuff listed that I really wanted wasn't on the CD sent!!!

RAY WILSON was the last singer GENESIS had after PHIL COLLINS left the band. They tried hard and recorded one excelent cd with RAY WILSON called "CALLING ALL STATIONS". Sadly, and because the cd was not the big smash Tony Banks and Mike Rutherford were accustomed to, they broke up the band and Ray Wilson went back to be a solo recording singer (this time without his other band). He has recorded two excelent studio cds and this is his second "live" cd. His voice is in good shape and you can hear for yourself why Mr. Banks and Rutherford decided to invite him to sing in GENESIS. Here he sings (with his excelent band), some GENESIS songs recorded with Peter Gabriel or Phil Collins on vocals (and the best ones are "Follow you, follow me" and "Ripples"). He also sings Peter Gabriel and Phil Collins songs. But wait until you hear HIS songs...specially "INSIDE"....

It is very very sad, GENESIS did not go on with him as a singer and songwriter.

Ray Wilson is probably my favorite singer/songwriter. This live CD is remarkable. His lyrics are deeply emotional and thought provoking and his voice really carries the message home. His covers of Phil Collins, Peter Gabriel and Genesis are really powerful and extremely well done with the help of his remarkable band. These guys have picked up where Genesis left off. Top-notch stuff all the way!