Customer Reviews

Live in Concert

5 star:		(36)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I'm 50 years old and have been playing guitar most of my life. I've seen most of the great guitarists live. I've seen Hendrix. I've seen Clapton. I've seen Page. I've seen Beck. I've seen Blackmore. I've seen Gibbons. I've seen Freddie and BB King, and freddie made me cry. I've seen the Allmans. I could go on and on. Of all the guitarist performances in the last 35 years, who would I rate as the best? This one! Joe Walsh live with the James Gang at the Overton Park Shell in Memphis Tennessee. I wasn't expecting this. I already knew about Joe Walsh and liked the funky rock style of the James Gang. That was what i was expecting. A cute little polished top 40 pop rock group with a pretty good guitarist/vocalist.Man was I in for a shock! What I saw was Joe Walsh wearing a sunburst Les Paul Standard plugged into Marshall stacks and turned up loud! What I heard was the best played, best sounding electric blues/rock in my life. Hendrix could do it in the studio.....but this man did it live! The high spot was the blues number "You're gonna Need Me." I heard the most tasteful, sweetest, creative blues lead in my life and i still haven't forgotten it. The beautiful sustain and phrasing of Walsh's playing was the most perfect example of power under control that i have ever witnessed. The guitar and the power behind it was a part of the man's soul. For the life of me i don't know why Walsh has downplayed this side of his talent. If you haven't heard this you haven't really heard either Joe Walsh or the James Gang.I have been wanting to express my admiration of this work for many years. I thank Amazon.com for granting me the privelege. If you really love the blues guitar, you owe it to yourself to listen to this offering. You won't hear the blues exactly like this anywhere else.

This was one of my favorite albums in the mid 1970s. I didn't have the recording for nearly 30 years until I finally found it in a used record shop. (The CD line up and the original record are identical--no new material, sadly.) Even though my taste has changed and I've moved more in the direction of jazz, I was rivoted by Joe Walsh's guitar playing and the tightness of this power trio.

The only disappointment might be the bass solo on "Lost Women," but it was the early 1970s, after all. Besides Jack Bruce, there weren't many electric bass virtuosos, and many of the techiques now taken for granted didn't exist. So, turn up the fuzz and play eighth notes!

As other reviewers have noted, Joe was in a unique grove. He derives the maximum feeling from his playing. He doesn't miss any notes and doesn't waste any notes. His tone and attack are perfect for this genre. His use of special effects--waw waw and echoplex--is perfect: very drammatic and not cloying or cheap (as was often the case at that time). The pure blues number is sweet, hot, and memorable. Joe could get more out of a half a dozen well placed notes than many shredders (such as Malmsteen) do in a hundred.

The drumming by Jim Foxx (I think that's his name) is energetic and driving. His solo on "Lost Woman" does not disappoint.

I wonder if Joe would ever consider tackling his power trio format again... I hope so. He didn't show this piercing side very often.

"The James Gang Live in Concert" is a tremendous performance by a really great rock trio. I put on my top 20 of all time great "guitar-based live performances." It's right up there with any work the Allmans, the Cream or Jimi did, it's that good. If Joe walsh was "burned-out" on this album, you couldn't prove it by me. The album is an absolute "must listen" for any aspiring or serious guitarist/artist. I have the original LP and it's a monster. For those who trash this record I say, "show me anything in today's market that is even one tenth as good as this." Good luck.

This recording showcased an element of Joe Walsh that was never heard of again. I've listened to Yer' Album and Rides Again but I wasn't prepared for what I heard when I put this one on. This is quite simply some one the best progressive blues/rock live performances ever recorded. With the powerful riffs and sustained bends,wah wah and delay effects, Walsh did it all and did it well! The tone on his guitar had just enough distortion to play the notes clean, but when he cranked up the volume, it had you shakin in your boots. You could just imagine Walsh standing center stage, leaning back with his eyes closed and gritting his teeth as he let the high notes ring effortlessly. I had a new found respect for Walsh after hearing this one. I only wish it would have been a longer recording. That's my only gripe as it is too short. The James Gang will go down in my books as one of the greatest power trios ever.

The vinyl version of this album has been sitting in the attic for quite a few years now, I probably bought it in about as a spotty youth in around `75. So I finally bought the CD, and yes, if anything it is even better than it sounded in the 70s. Joe Walsh's solo work has been erratic at best, and with the Eagles he's coasting, but on this James Gang live set he is at the peak of his powers as a stunningly versatile rock guitarist. Only 7 tracks on the CD and 2 of those are keyboard based and do not rise above average (hence only 4 stars overall), one track "The Ashes the Rain and I" is acoustic in style, similar to much of Led Zeppelin 3, and is merely OK. It's the electric guitar based songs that really fly. The opener "Stop" is great power trio rock with a grinding riff and wailing vocal, for me this is far more effective than say Cream or Mountain, probably because it feels much more direct, less fussy, almost punkish. This flows into a blues "You're Gonna Need Me" which has some terrific effects laden guitar work. Then the keyboard/acoustic interlude followed by "Walk Away" one of the great lost pop songs. The final track "Lost Woman" has the kitchen sink thrown in! The first half of it is truly awesome, a rippling base riff with Joe noodling around it breaks into a guitar solo with everything on it! Every effects pedal, every style. You can hear every hotshot guitarist for the next 30 years in this solo, from Eddie Van Halen to the Edge to Kurt Cobain. The solo ends with some high notes zipping around on a echo loop, then the finest moment of the whole CD, as Joe comes piling back in, hitting the riff absolutely and gloriously full throttle, almost Ramones-like, then the rhythm section kicks in, wonderful stuff. We are next treated to a bass solo and a drum solo, these are OK but a very much a product of their time, and sound "Spinal Tap/Almost Famous" over indulgent in comparison to Joe's guitar work. So if you thought of Joe Walsh as a guitar light weight with country leanings who never really rocked, except maybe on "Rocky Mountain Way", one listen to this CD will put you right!

Like The James Gang?
Like Joe Walsh?
Like early 70s rock and roll?
Like power trios?
Like truly live albums?
Like vintage Les Paul guitars driving ecoplexed vintage Marshall stacks?
Like Hammond organs overdriving swirling Leslie speakers?

If you like any of the above, you should treat yourself to a copy of "Live In Concert"

If you like all of the above, then you probably already own a copy and wish that the record company would release the complete show as part of a special edition cd package or box set!

"You're Gonna Need Me" is well worth the price of admission!
(Joe Walsh playing and singing some gut wrenching blues rock)

ATTA BOY JOE!!!

The cover photo is taken in front of Carnegie Hall with a poster on its marquee announcing their appearance, but I don't know if the poster is real. There isn't much info on the cover, so I don't have much else to offer - other than this is an extremely bone crushing power trio album. Many are familiar with James Gang's hits such as "Walk Away" which is included, but if you think the James Gang's studio albums are in the hard-rock category, this album is quite a few notches above that. Even when Joe Walsh puts down his impressive distorted wah-wah and Echo-plex leaden guitar and steps behind the B-3 for a tune, it is still brutal. This is in large fact due to the combination of the mammoth bass-guitar sound, straightforward recording style, and the excellent choice of songs. Five of the eight songs are cover tunes, including the R&B classic "Stop" that Jimi Hendrix also delivers on his Live at the Filmore East album, but rather than the relatively straight-ahead version Jimi's Band of Gypsys does, the James Gang pummels the song into the ground. There isn't a dud on this record. I have little patience for blues improvisations by other than the masters of the genre, but even the jam on "Lost Woman" is more than tolerable.

I have been a musician and a fan of many styles of music for most of my life and when it comes to all-out,kick-butt,blow your hair back rock and roll that you can feel in your bones, I'll reach for this disc, James Gang-Live in Concert. This is Joe Walsh at his absolute zenith! He wasn't one of Pete Townsends favorite guitarist's for nothing! Turn it up LOUD and enjoy it again and again!

OMG, this is a classic!!! The James Gang lead by Joe Walsh definitely deserved to be heard at Carnegie Hall and they did not disappoint. Power rock and blues at it's best (Stop, You're Gonna Need Me and classic rock radio mainstay Walk Away) mingled with a softer side (Take A Look Around, Tend My Garden and Ashes, The Rain and I). I rank this as one of the top LIVE albums of all time in the genre of classic rock.

I still have the ringing in my head from that night Joe brought down the house on West 57th St. I thought the place literally was going to come down, it was so ferocious. The cd gives you a taste of what the show was like but without The Bomber, you can't really imagine the power, the sound or the glory.