Customer Reviews

Live Album

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Robert Earl Keen, Jr. seems to have been lost among the manygreat Texas songwriters of the last 20 years. Though his songs havebeen recorded by Nanci Griffith, Joe Ely, and Lyle Lovett, he remains a rather unknown outside of the bar circuit in Texas. His musical career started when he and Lyle Lovett were sharing a house in College Station, TX, and the feel of that time is present in this collection of songs.

Though this album is his oldest I have found, he was far from just starting out when it was recorded. His song introductions are stories in themselves, and bring to the music a setting that only a true Texas artist can. The songs on this album showcase his entire range from the humorous in "Copenhagen", and serious as in "I would Change My Life" (later recorded by Nanci Griffith), to the absurd as in "The Blue Grass Widow." If you are not familiar with Robert Earl Keen, Jr., this disc is a great introduction to his songwriting and perfoming abilities, and if you are already a fan, you must have this one.

Robert Earl Keen, Jr...a a staple of Aggie life, and one of the sure bets for music lovers that don't like to be spoon-fed - this album never gets old. Grab a beer, sit outside, and hit play.

Whether it's College Station anthem [and Dixie Chicken favorite, for that matter] "The Front Porch Song," hard-driving "Goin' Down in Style," or plaintive "I Would Change My Life," Keen's second album ["No Kinda Dancer" was the first in 1984] is a solid effort, and a great ride. The best way to hear Keen is live, as any fan can tell you, and his trademark storytelling is mixed throughout.

This is the sort of album that causes a michievous grin to creep across your mouth just as sure as it entices you to barrel down dirty Texas backroads singing along at the top of your lungs. Robert Earl has a voice anyone can join in with, and it's only a matter of time til you do. His albums are like the bars that have the sense to play them - a close-gaurded secret and a guilty pleasure. Maybe the only reason he hasn't gone the more commercialized route of some of his compatriots is that we're keeping him to ourselves.

Here's to Robert Earl, and confusion to foreign tyrants.

Keen is from the A&M area of Brenham. I'm from Iowa. I gigged with a Houston band last January, including a bar in Brenham.

I suggested we do "Road" or "Gringo" or "Sonora" or any of Keen's stuff. The band sneered.

Some Texan musicians are just plain jealous of this guy's writing. They should be. This album is a great place to start finding out why.

The best thing about REK's first live album is definitely the stories - the yarns he spins during The Front Porch Song and The Bluegrass Widow are absolute gems. What keeps you coming back, however, are the slow songs - Who'll Be Looking Out for Me, I Would Change My Life, If I Were the King, and I'll Go Own Downtown are all absolutely gorgeous. The amazing thing about this album, in retrospect, is that a live album with all new material would be released after just one studio album! It was a good move, though, both then and now, and I can't help but remember what it was like to go to a small, intimate REK show when I listen to this - but of course, a songwriter with this much talent was bound to move on to bigger and better things.

Not quite sure why a few reviewers say to buy the "No. 2 Live Dinner" over this one. They are vastly different offerings, and to me if you are even a casual REK fan you would want to have both of them. This is REK back in simpler days, and his voice is much, much better than on No. 2 Now I will admit there is not much of a band, or "full sound", but the music is great! I really enjoy all of the selections except for "If I Were King", but to each his own I guess.

Highly recommended.

It isn't that this is a bad album, it's just that the material isn't as strong as the rest of his albums.

If you don't already own most of R.E. Keen's albums, you should buy his more recent live album, called "No. 2 Live Diner," before considering this one. It's that other live album that contains all of his classic songs, such as "The Road Goes On Forever" and "Five Pound Bass." This earlier live album doesn't contain most of the Keen songs that have gone on to become his concert staples in more recent years.

If you do own everything else by Keen, then there are a couple of gems here that aren't on his studio albums, such as "Copenhagen," a very funny song.

I love this CD. I listen to it at least 3 times per trip when we are hauling horses. Skewball and Going Down in Style are wonderful songs. I wish more country music people would be brave enough to sing and wright like that!

Incredible CD. Stories anyone can relate to.

This is an incredible album that really showcases a traditional Texas music sound. I can't really add to any of the other positive comments that've been made. I will say that I came across this album when a friend left it in my car. Not knowing who REK was I listened to the whole thing non-stop. Needless to say, my friend never got the disc back. One more story: Recently at a church youth campout I brought my guitar and at the fire that night I played a lot of music. The songs that had the greatest reception were the REK songs specifically "The Front Porch Song". It's cool that in this world of flashy-hiphop-dance-beat-music-at-you-fingertips, the youth can still recognize good well written music.

This album is what country music is supposed to be like. Very ripe with feel-good nostalgia, but not the sickly-sweet kind. Perfect.