Live at Carnegie Hall [Import, Original recording remastered, Live]

Dory Previn | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (December 31, 1999)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Import, Original recording remastered, Live
• Label: Bgo - Beat Goes on
• ASIN: B0000086F8
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Vinyl
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #88,729 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Mythical Kings and Iguanas

2. Scared to Be Alone

3. I Ain't His Child

4. I Dance and Dance and Smile and Smile

5. Esther's First Communion

6. The Veterans Big Parade/Play It Again Sam

7. Don't Put Him Down

8. Yada Yada la Scala

9. The Lady with the Braid

10. The Midget's Lament

11. Left Hand Lost

12. When a Man Wants a Woman

13. Angels and Devils the Following Day

14. Mary C. Brown and the Hollywood Sign

15. Be Careful, Baby, Be Careful

16. Twenty-Mile Zone

17. Michael Michael

18. Moon Rock

19. Going Home (Mythical Kings and Iguanas)

Editorial Reviews

This star songwriter for films (with and without ex-husband Andre Previn) emerged as an idiosyncratic, compelling singer-songwriter in the '70s. This 1973 Carnegie Hall concert came out on double-LP back then and has never been on CD in the U.S.: I Ain't His Child; Scared to Be Alone; Yada Yada La Scala; Don't Put Him Down; Moon Rock 19 songs! --This text refers to an alternate Audio CD edition.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Little Known But Widely Loved Singer/Songwriter, February 29, 2008

By 

Mike B. - See all my reviews

This review is from: Live at Carnegie Hall (Audio CD)

In my personal universe (and welcome to it), Dory Previn reigns as the best female singer/songwriter of all time, and Dusty Springfield reigns as the best female singer.

While she had a cult following in the '70's and infrequently performed in small folk clubs, I think she is largely forgotten today. Even so, her devoted fans remember her fondly, and continue to count her albums among their most prized possessions. For my money, no female singer/songwriter other than Joni Mitchell has equalled her dazzling run of 7 perfect albums in a row - not Kate Bush, not anyone. Few males have matched this track record either. She deserves to be mentioned in the same breath as Leonard Cohen, Randy Newman, and Paul Simon - but she isn't. So, it's fair to ask - who is she? Here's a nutshell history:

She was married to composer Andre Previn, with whom she collaborated on film scores. He wrote the music, and she'd write the words. Their biggest hit was "(Theme From) Valley Of The Dolls", performed memorably by Dionne Warwick. Other popular film songs were "You're Gonna Hear From Me" from the Natalie Wood starrer "Inside Daisy Clover", and "Come Saturday Morning" from the Liza Minnelli movie "The Sterile Cuckoo". Some were collaborations without Andre, whom she had divorced (he left her for Mia Farrow) after a series of nervous breakdowns and periods in mental hospitals.

Eventually Dory began to write about all of this on her deeply personal records. She started writing her own music too. Turned out she sang beautifully and wrote brilliantly. Her early songs were gathered together in a poetry book with the same title as her first album ("On My Way To Where"). She later followed this with an autobiography about her abused childhood years in New Jersey ("Midnight Baby"), and another one about her chaotic adult years in Hollywood ("The Bog-Trotter"). These subjects would also be addressed in her songs. In-between books she'd release her masterful albums. After her fourth studio album she appeared "live" at Carnegie Hall in a sold-out concert.

Judging by the rabid fan response, it was an emotional experience that rivalled Judy Garland's performance at the famed venue years earlier. I'm not kidding. It's all captured here.

While her previous records featured music and orchestrations that sounded vaguely Hollywood musical/Broadway-ish (although a lot quieter than that implies) - on this "live" recording the songs are re-cast with acoustic guitar and folk band backing. At times it almost sounds country. She would continue to record with this sound on her next album ("Dory Previn") and her final one ("Children of Coincidence").

Her first 4 albums are available on CD in two-for-the-price-of-one packages. Of these, "On My Way To Where", "Mythical Kings and Iguanas", and "Reflections In A Mud Puddle" are flawless from start to finish. Truly perfect records. I like "Mary C. Brown and the Hollywood Sign" a lot, but it contains a certain shrillness that the previous 3 albums did not. Then came "Live At Carnegie Hall", "Dory Previn" (very good, though a bit overly verbose and less tuneful than usual), and the under-rated "Children of Coincidence". The latter two are available as single CD's and are well worth having despite my caveats. To pass them up is to miss some great stuff.

Which should you buy? All of them - they're all terrific! You won't be sorry! But if you just want to try her out, this "live" recording is a virtual "greatest hits" of her best songs up until then - and is a good place to start.

18 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Lovely Sad and Scary, February 16, 2000

By 

Michael Weber "fairportfan" (Atlanta) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Live at Carnegie Hall (Audio CD)

Dory Previn is very up-front about her personal problems -- and she had some to be up-front about. But she makes lovely sad (and funny -- often both at once) and scary music out of them.

This album, culling songs from her several previous albums and setting them in a live-performance milieu with a full band, is a compelling document of her style, her presence and her music.

"Mythical Kings and Iguanas" and "The Lady with the Braid" are meditations on wanting what you have not and on denying that you need what you have. "Kings" is wistful, regretful and confessional. "Lady" is scary and so very sad, as the lady asks "Would you care to stay all night and save my life?"

"Mary C Brown & the Hollywood Sign" (allegedly inspired by a real-life suicide in which an unsuccessful starlet hanged herself from the sign) is about giving up/in, and beyond that a meditation on the glitter of show-biz and the way Hollywood represents and reflects the zeitgeist of America.

"Twenty Mile Zone" is a sardonic account of the time she was arrested for driving peacefully along and screaming as loudly as she could in her car. Funny and disturbing.

Other outstanding songs include "Angels & Devils the Following Day"; a meditation on what makes a good relationship, "Left Hand Lost"; about being born left-handed and made to change to be "normal" (as a natural left-hander who wasn't forced to change, this song is scary to me) and "Moon Rock", a peppy upbeat look at a lot of things only marginally related to its ostensible subject.

This is the Dory Previn album to buy to introduce yourself to her music.

14 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Career Zenith of Dory Previn, August 23, 1998

By 

[e-mail] (London, UK) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Live at Carnegie Hall (Audio CD)

This double album was released in 1973, and was her fifth release. She performs the favourites from her first four albums, and adds two news songs. It's nice to hear the audience adulation (which Dory Previn acknowledges very modestly), and some of her humorous introductions to the songs.

After this, she moved from United Artists records (who had released all her work up to that point), and made two fine albums for Warner Brothers - both extremely sophisticated. Sadly, these have not appeared on CD; they're even better.