Customer Reviews

Live At McCabes' Guitar Shop

5 star:		(39)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

As a music lover and collector...I always search to see what's available by my favorite groups and artists. I've been on a Heart "kick" in the last month...and while looking over their music here...I found Nancy Wilson's "Live At McCabe's Guitar Shop"....and I was thrilled with it after making the purchase. !This is great stuff...I love "unplugged" performances...and this one doesn't disappoint !

Regarding any poor sound quality comments....this is what it is supposed to be...Nancy on acoustic guitar with two backup singers playing in a guitar shop...with a small audience...and it's wonderful ! I feel like I'm sitting right there listening to her...I love the intimate..."stripped down" performance.I've always thought that Nancy was a great guitar player...she has a beautiful voice....is a good song writer....and "Live At McCabe's Guitar Shop" is a real treat ! If you're a Heart fan...or simply appreciate a unique concert...something refreshingly different...buy this now...it's great musical value at an awesome price !

Ann and Nancy Wilson are so powerful together that one can forget they are each substantial talents in their own right. This CD is a recording of a solo acoustic performance by Nancy (and a couple of friends, Kristen Barry and Astrid Young, singing backup) at a guitar shop in Los Angeles.

While there are Heart tunes like Even It Up and These Dreams, some of the songs are not from the Heart playlist. The high point of the CD for me was her cover of Peter Gabriel's In Your Eyes, one of my favorite songs. She did such a great job, it prompted me to pull out my guitar and finally learn the song myself. (Thank you, Nancy.)

This CD is a great showcase of Nancy's talent, stripped down to the bare essentials - just her voice and guitar (and mandolin). While a tiny bit more folksy than most Heart CDs, this set is a great listen. It is more in the "unplugged" vein of The Road Home concert, and those who appreciate Nancy's muscianship (or are just smitten with her fine self) will enjoy it. It is nice to hear every nuance of her voice and the chemistry between it and her guitar, as well as her interaction with the audience. It would have been very cool to watch. Too bad there is no DVD. I do wish the cover art had more pictures of her, however.

Nancy holds a special place in my heart. She was the first female guitarist I ever saw who fulfilled a longtime desire of mine to see a really firey, intense woman tear up the fretboard. The cut titled Leghead's Lament on this CD reminds me a bit of the old intro to Crazy On You that I saw her play in a concert video. That video of her playing blew me away, and I have been a dedicated fan ever since. I also love the Celtic/Zeppelin-flavored mandolin piece Half Moon. There are no mediocre or bad cuts - everything is well worth a listen. I "Heart"ily recommend it. Good job, Nancy.

I bought this CD because I've always been a Heart fan. But I loved Nancy's guitar playing and her voice more than Ann's. Even though Ann has a beautiful and powerful voice, Nancy's is sweeter and more quiet. My guitar teacher is a huge Heart fan, and rated Nancy as one of the best guitar and mandolin players. I love all the tracks Nance has chosen. Especially "Everything" her cover of Joni Mitchell's "A Caswe of YOu". and Peter Gabriel's "In YOur Eyes". I like Nancy's version better than Peter's. THis CD has some funny points, and is a warm intimate performance with a living legend. If I close my eyes, I feel like I'm in McCabe's with Nancy watching this incredible performance. I must have for any Heart or Nancy fan!!

Okay, i should have written this review AGES ago when i bought the album (June of 1999). Apologies to Nancy for being unresponsive. But truly, each time i play this album for friends, old and young, they demand to know the artist, and they are stunned that it is our girl from Heart, AND that they have never heard of the album before. This happened just 3 weeks ago when i was held captive in California for some corporate training. i cleverly brought a boombox and loads of CDs to minimize the effects of enforced captivity. Nancy's Cd Live at McCabe's became a quick favorite among the other detainees. The collection of songs alone is so lyrical, with covers of Heart tunes as well as Simon and Garfunkel and others. But add Nancy's sweet solitary voice and adept guitar playing and you have the makings of art.

What a wonderful find! What luck that you can still buy it 2 years later here on Amazon!! Enjoy!!

I think that the other reviews cover exactly what I would say. This album is a really must have for a true Heart fan, or acoustic guitar fan. However, don't expect a traditional Heart record, because this is a pretty mellow CD. But Nancy's best stuff is acoustic. This CD totally ROCKS! Stop reading this and just buy it for the awesome low price!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So I realize that this album has been out for quite sometime, but I just still cannot get over how great it is. It has been clear to me for quite sometime that Nancy Wilson is one of the best guitarists around. It is on this album where she really lets her talents on the acoustic guitar shine. In listening to this album, you can tell that she is most comfortable and at home with an acoustic. Also awesome is her vocal abilities. It is clear that had she been in any other rock band in the world besides Heart (I mean who can compete with Ann Wilson), she would be the lead singer. Her vocals are absolutely stunning, she has a great voice.

The highlights for me were "Even it Up" just because it is such a fun Heart song, and she kicks a** on it. I also enjoy her original stuff, especially "Everything" and "Sister". She is such a talented writer. My two favorite tracks on this album are "Legheads Lament" becuase it is just such a cool little piece, and "In Your Eyes". I have loved this Peter Gabriel song ever since I heard it in Nancy's husband's movie "Say Anything". She sings it with such passion that I actually like it better than the original....Thanks Nance!

The first time I saw Heart perform live, during the "Dreamboat Annie" tour, The show started out with a very mellow crowd, who were surprisingly (to the Band) enthusiastic to the slower more acoustic based song performances. Ann Wilson looked out into the crowd seeming rather puzzled, and said something like "Wow you guys really like the softer stuff" the crowd went wild with appreciation, and she said something to the affect, "We'll have to come back sometime and play a whole show like that... But tonight, we're here to "Rock & Roll"" to which of course the crowd went wilder. And they thoroughly kicked butt for the next two hours. To this day one of the best Concerts I ever saw.

Although, Heart came back to town a couple of times, the Wilson Sisters forgot about that promise, but I never did.

So here, along with "The Road Home", "Live at McCabe's" is as close as I will come to hearing that show.

That being said... This is a bare bones performance, so don't expect studio qualitly.

What you should expect is a unique set of performances by one of the best harmonizing voices in rock music.

I always thought it was ironic than on the "These Dreams," the biggest hit that Heart ever had the lead vocals were done by Nancy Wilson rather than lead singer Ann. Even with that bit of rock music trivia it is still surprising that Nancy was the one who came up with a solo album, this 1999 effort, "Live At McCabes' Guitar Shop" (although she did the scoring for her husband's film "Jerry McGuire"). You can probably think of this as Nancy Wilson's "unplugged" album, although the sound mix is a bit below that standard. The album has three types of songs, each of which are fairly enjoyable, and the question is simply which type appeals to you most. First, there are the acoustic cover of a few Heart songs, "Even It Up," "Angels," and, of course, "These Dreams." Then there are the covers of songs by other artists, such as Paul Simon's "Kathy's Song," Joni Mitchells "A Case of You," and Peter Gabriel's "In Your Eyes." But much as I like acoustic versions and cover songs, I have to vote for Wilson's original compositions as the best of the lot. These songs bring me back to the very beginning, recalling the sound of Heart on their "Dreamboat Annie" debut album. "Halfmoon" and "The Rain Song" are my two favorites, mainly because "Sister" just begs for Freudian analysis and I like to resist such impulses with music (even with Courtney Love is doing the songs). However, it is interesting (I already used ironic in this review) that Nancy does not sound as strong on her own song as she does on the covers. I like it when artists try to expand and this live album constitutes a move in that direction by this singer-guitarist-songwriter.

This is a live acoustic CD recorded over the course of two nights at a guitar shop in LA. Nancy Wilson, one of the two sisters from the group Heart, takes center stage on this one, singing all of the lead vocals and playing all the guitar. It is basically just her by herself performing a couple Heart favorites, a few covers, and a few new songs.

Nancy has a beautiful voice, and finally takes the time to showcase it away from the Heart setting. Her acoustic guitar playing is also very impressive, and should impress you.

The Heart songs that are featured here are 'Even it Up', 'Angels', and 'These Dreams.' But perhaps the higlight of the disc is Nancy's 'Everything', a beautiful number that shows both her tremendous guitar playing and singing.

I recommend this to anyone who is a fan of acoustic music, and also to all Heart fans!

This new version of the beautiful 'Love Mistake' from Heart's Passionworks album is worth the cost of admission alone. Nancy's lead vocal work is most known for the song 'These Dreams', another Heart favorite. I would have loved to have been there when this was recorded. Nancy Wilson singing in the corner of a guitar store to a small crowd. Who wouldn't love that???