Customer Reviews

Live From The Limo, Vol. 1

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

 

 

Since I live in Austin, Texas, I was one of the lucky ones that was able to attend both shows from which this album was recorded. As with most live CDs, the recording cannot meausre up to the live show, but the music on this CD is great.

I agree with Amazon's review that it tends to skip around too much. I don't understand why they don't just put the songs in the order the band played them. (Nothing was better than them opening the show with the "tornado" sound and "Hey Baby Que Paso?" but here it is the last track). However, this is the only fault I can find with the CD and I will listen to it for years to come.

My only other hope is that there is a Volume 2 on the way!!

This was Tex-Mex super group The Texas Tornados' last record, taped just before Christmas 1998, less than a year before the untimely death of singer and multi-instrumentalist Doug Sahm.

"Live from the Limo" is a bit tighter at 55 minutes than the group's other live album, "Live from Austin, TX", with excellent, crisp sound and an enthusiastic audience.

It draws heavily from the Tornados' 1990 debut album, which supplies about half the tracks, and in that respect it is not that different from "Live from Austin, TX". But to me it is the better of the two, actually, although only by a shade. "Live from Austin, TX" is an excellent record for sure, but it suffers a little bit from a lack of variety, being dominated so heavily by mid-tempo shuffles, organ, and Flaco Jimenez' characteristic accordion.

Recorded in a crowded club, "Live from the Limo" is a warmer, tighter record; it moves effectively between up-tempo Tex-Mex-R&B rave-ups, country & western, melodic ballads, and Mexican folk-rock, including beautiful, exquisitely swinging renditions of "Laredo Rose" and "South of the Border", a tough, punchy "Adios Mexico", and a rollicking "Who Were You Thinkin' Of".

We also get a great rendition of Augie Meyers' driving "Dinero", Freddy Fender's hit "Wasted Days, Wasted Nights", and an irresistable "Mendocito", the old Sir Douglas Quintet-hit, 57-year-old Doug Sahm singing gleefully about his 'teenage lover'.

And yes, Bobby Darin's "Eighteen Yellow Roses" is a smaltzy, weepy ballad of the worst kind, really, but the Tornados manage to pull even that one off.

This is a terrific, spirited live album, the finest item in the group's catalogue alongside their eponymous debut album. Even casual fans are sure to enjoy this melodic, passionate record.

4 1/2 stars - highly recommended!

Doug Sahm, the lead voice and primary instigator of the Texas Tornados, died in November of 1999. This set was recorded at Antone's in Austin, Texas, just a few days before Christmas in 1998. The four Tornados--Doug Sahm, Freddy Fender, Augie Meyers, and Flaco Jimenez--were augmented by crack rhythm and horn sections, the end result being nearly an hour of raucous, uproarious, and downright notorious good fun. Who would have guessed that the energetic Doug Sahm would have less than a year of life left to live?

A few days after hearing of Doug Sahm's untimely death, I attended the wedding of two wonderful young people, both of them children of families that are quite dear to ours, and at the reception, I smuggled in this CD and asked the brother of the bride, who was serving as DJ, to play track 8, "Adiós Mexico." I grabbed my two unfortunate daughters and coerced them into dancing with me, and by the time the song was halfway through, we had about 10 people, including some really young children, all holding hands in a big circle and dancing around like a bunch of crazy idiots, caught up in the high spirits of the music blasting forth from the speakers. Doug Sahm was not there in person, of course, but he was certainly there in spirit, and he really helped us to have a wild few minutes of pure, silly, dancing fun. That is the charm of this recording, which captures the energy of the aptly named Tornados in a way that their studio albums, which are quite good, could not quite achieve.

The sound quality is not what you would call state-of-the-art, but it has an honest kick to it, and brings across the energy of the set quite effectively. If you've never heard the Texas Tornados, you have really missed some entertaining music, and this live CD is a great introduction to their Tex-Mex stylings, with accordionist Flaco Jimenez being free to cut loose more than he ever did in the studio. There is even a lively cover of the old Sir Douglas Quintet rave-up, "Mendocino," with Doug and Augie sounding every bit as energetic as they did 30 years ago when the song was first recorded. Adios, amigo, we'll miss you--but thanks for leaving us this recording before you left us for good...

This would have been a great show to have witnessed. Very few live recordings have the quality of sound that we are so accustomed to these days and this is no exception. This recording does convey the spirit of the event and the sheer enjoyment of the musicians in performing. Hopefully their studio recordings have the same good qualities and good recording as well. That is what I am purchasing next and advising whoever reads this to do.