Customer Reviews

Live From Austin, TX

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

 

 

I am a huge fan of this band and have all of their cd's but this live document could've been much much better. At times Pollard is way too drunk and yea yea yea I know thats part of his persona but cmon pal, you sounded like an obnoxious drunk frat boy on Kareoke night. If this was supposed to be a farewell performance and gift to the fans...treat us with respect and keep your booze in check until after the lights go down!

This live album is a fan's dream...one great song after another. However, not surprisingly, Pollard gets progressively more drunk towards the end of the show, culminating in an absolutely horrible version of "Glad Girls" (although you could certainly argue that it was intentionally horrible!). Having said that, man there are some great songs on here and it's nice to have live versions for once. I saw the Austin City Limits show on t.v. but this has much more material on it. Now, as the title of my review suggests, if you are a newbie or if you are undecided about whether Pollard is a genius or just a low-fi hack, this is definitely NOT the place to start. There is the "greatest hits" CD which I think has some pretty representative choices on it (even if it is all over the map, again not surprisingly for GBV). I would start there, and get this CD much further---once you've been converted! (By the way, I used to be in the camp that thinks that Pollard writes two or three good songs per album and a whole bunch of crap...I have come to realize that his hit to miss ratio is MUCH better than that and he is not overrated, by any means. I am really enjoying this live album and glad they put it out.....)

I don't normally watch Austin City Limits (always seem to catch it when it's a rerun of Cowboy Junkies, Lyle Lovett or Stevie Ray Vaughn darn the luck), but I stopped one Saturday night to see this band on there doing this song "Glad Girls." Turns out it was a longtime "heard of but heard nothing by" band, Guided By Voices. Picked up the album it was on, but it didn't come close to this live version (apparently their shows are legendary for Rob Pollard drinking his weight in alcohol) So I'm glad this is finally out on CD. I've come to love the rest of their songs and feel a right schmuck for not getting into the band during its lifetime.

Signed,
epsteinsmutha

This is probably not an album for the casual fan, but still worth owning for most. Pollard and Nate Farley have too much to drink and it comes through loud and clear on too many tracks, particularly on the second disc. The drunken karaoke version of "Cut-out Witch" is, in my opinion, unlistenable.

Having said that, there are still some real gems here. "Glad Girls", "Echoes Myron", and "Redmen and Their Wives" are all good. "Sleepover Jack" is also well done.

All in all, this CD is an accurate depiction of the last few GBV shows I went to. The band and audience have a lot of drunken fun at the show, but that just doesn't translate into a great audio CD.

The Austin City Limits release constitutes the first official live cd from GBV (not counting the semi-bootleg "Jellfish Reflector" from 1996) and that alone makes a worthwhile release.

The first disc is generally solid although the set list leans a little bit too heavily on lesser material. The performances are solid although too many of Doug Gillard's guitar leads are buried in the mix. While song selection improves on the second disc, song quality declines, most likely due to the band's copious drinking. Lowlights include a sloppy, slowed-down "Glad Girls" and Robert Pollard screwing up the lyrics to "I Am A Scientist," arguably the band's finest and most famous song.

Still, there's a lot to like here, especially for long time fans who have always wanted a real live cd with the Pollard/Gillard/Farley lineup. If this isn't the best possible show, its more than good enough. (Note: Those new to the GBV experience will get a better picture of what the band was about onstage with the "Electrifying Conclusion" DVD which documents all four hours of the band's final show.

If you are a young gbv fan like me, who would have been, oh around 14 I guess when the guys finally disbanded, and you never got your chance to see the greatest rock band of all time for real in concert, then this is for you. The first disc features a lot of great material performed excellently. The second disc features Pete Yorn and a performance by Pollard that reminds me of a rabid Bill Cosby. He is soo drunk, and it is just utterly hilarious! That is what I wished I could have seen more than anything; Pollard trashed and babbling on stage while I am trashed and singing along in the audience. Mad props for releasing this transitional train wreck, I believe it truly captures the spirit of the band. "It doesn't sound good, but it still rools, and that's what we taught the world. Right Chris?"

I am a fan of indie in general but Guided by Voices is still somewhat new to me. After reading the other reviews on this "Austin City Limits" performance, I was none too sure that it would be worthwhile, but I have to say after viewing, it was a great concert, surely not a suave and polished set by any stretch but had all the intensity and intimacy that you'd expect of a setting like Austin City Limits. True, Pollard gets quite polluted (noting at one point that it's easy to mistake tequila for beer, not a big problem since he's evidently happy to drink both) but that only adds to a sort of raucous indie atmosphere of "anything goes". GBV certainly has its place and I heard many tracks that I'd like to own in audio format. Good stuff, all in all!!

Robert Pollard, singer song-writer of Dayton, OH-based Guided by Voices, decided to disband the group after the excellent 2004 album "Half Smile of the Decomposed" and held a victory lap of some sort with the band's last tour in Fall, 2004.

"Live from Austin" (2 CDs, 30 tracks, 90 min.) brings in its totality one of the last shows of the band (November 9, 2004). Guided by Voices in its 20 year run released a multitude of albums, it was really impossible to keep track of all their music, but of course 1994's "Bee Thousand" album remains the stand-out. This collection is a great summary of it all, in a live setting, as it should be. It's hard to pinpoint highlights as such, as the songs whiz by one after another, but check out "Cut Out Witch", featuring Pete York. Pollard's in between songs banter is fun, if non-sensical. At one point he shouts "If you suck, you still rule!" and that just about summarizes it!

I caught the band on their "victory lap" at the Southgate House in Newport (just across from Cincinnati), and it was quite the show. Since disbanding GBV, Pollard has gone on to release a number of solo records. Check out in particular last year's "From a Compound Eye", which was one of Pollard's best in a long time.

The first disc of this set is impeccable! My jaw dropped! The sound is excellent......I never saw it on TV and when I did it was only the last five minutes.....Im not deaf--tons of mistakes but all the songs are played with the spirit that made this band so great. IT OPENS WITH DEMONS ARE REAL. Enough said!