Customer Reviews

Live from Nowhere in Particular

5 star:		(67)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

OK, first the disclaimers. 1) Joe is my favorite contemporary guitarist. 2) I'm partial to electric blues. 3) I possess a prominent bias for live performances - I feed off of the energy they contain.

That said, this is a great CD! with some of Joe's typical (i.e., Great!) performances captured to enjoy conveniently and often. I absolutely love his earlier live CD (and DVD, A New Day Yesterday Live) with its rock-ier vibe, but this one's got a pleasing *range* represented. Lots more acoustic work, including "If Heartaches Were Nickels" (one of his most successful 'thefts'). Like a previous reviewer, I can't get enough plays of "Mountain Time" - I love that glassy tone and the yearning feel of this one (check out the Live at Rockpalast DVD if you wanna see him play this on the "coppertop"). But there are so many gems on this double CD, including great cover jams of Yes, ZZ, and Zep. It's like sex - it's all good, just some's better. ;)

My advice? Stop reading about it and buy this now! And go see Joe in person every chance you get!

I also bought this CD at the Kettering OH show and have listened to it twice since then. I hate when reviews cite Stevie Ray Vaughan when talking about Joe. I don't hear much SRV style in Smokin' Joe's sound. One thing he does have in common with SRV is that he simply manhandles a guitar while always keeping it musical and emotional. And the acoustic stuff will blow you away. This CD is the next best thing to being there. It's bluesy, it rocks hard, stretches out and offers some good variety. Oh, and the guy can sing his (BEEP) off too! Total package.

If you have never seen this guy, GO FAST and buy this LIVE CD! Especially this double CD! It's his concert in a LIVE CD, one of my all time favorite songs is track 4 where he plays his guitar like a sitar, it is so melodic, it's called "India/Mountain Time" this song gives me goosebumps just listening, because I have seen him perform this song "live" so many times, and it is truly amazing! All the songs on this CD are great, so don't just buy and download one or two, buy the whole double live CD, it's an incredible package deal for the price! "If Heartaches Were Nickels" and "Sloe Gin" are tear at your heart songs that I just can't imagine anyone ever doing him wrong, but blues fans rejoice, he's been annointed in true blood! He's a big "Yes" fan and the last song shows his influence by Chris Squire one of the greatest bass players of all time.

We saw him last night at the FRAZE in Kettering and he did not disappoint! To our delight he had this album for sell with a release date of today. On the way back to Columbus we listened to the new discs and they are very represntative of his smokin live show. These are a must have for any Bonamassa fan.

This live double cd establishes Joe Bonamassa as the premier musician on the scene today. While he calls himself a blues/rock guitarist, such a label only describes one facet of his musical personality. He does it all from rock to blues and touching on various other genres and moods, too. On the guitar, he flawlessly moves from electric to acoustic to slide without a hitch. And his voice has become an equal to his guitar skills. Put all this together with a great touring band (Carmine Rojas on bass, Rick Melick on keyboards, and Bogie Bowles on drums) and the production skills of Kevin "Caveman" Shirley, and you have the best live album of 2008.

This guy is possibly the most underrated guitarist out there. Sure, he's got plenty of pyrotechnics to bring to the stage, but what really stands out in this recording is his pure musicianship. This truly captures Joe & his band in their element. Joe's studio recordings are good, but he's one of those artists who's MUCH better live. I saw him in June '08 in a small club in Alexandra and was amazed at how good (and LOUD) he was.

Buy this - then go see him live!

I have been fortunate to see Joe live a few times now over the past few years, he has matured in that time and this cd shows that maturity. My God, it is good. Just like being there in the flesh. Thank you for releasing this Joe. Reader, switch on the surround sound and crank up the volume, close your eyes and imagine standing in the club surrounded by other fans. It's just a shame he is not there for a chat at the end of it like he normally does. What a great guy and this double cd says it all. Buy it, you will not regret it. Perhaps it will drive you to travel those extra miles to see his next gig and see just what I mean. Joe, if you read these reviews, keep on playing those smaller gigs and keeping it personal, we love it.

This album does the best job so far of capturing the experience of seeing Joe live. "Woke up Dreaming" is my favorite track because it captures the amazing energy Joe puts into his live performances. I didn't like the song "Sloe Gin" on the Sole Gin album -- it seemed saccharin to me. When I saw Joe perform it live it seemed more heartfelt, and I liked it much more. The version of "Sloe Gin" on this album is like what I saw live, and it's one of the best songs on this album. Overall this is a fantastic album -- Joe at his best. If you can't see Joe live, this is the next best thing.

Joe Bonamassa is a great blues guitar player and this cd proves it! Some bands or artists sound great in the studio but fail when performing live but not Joe and his band. If you ever walk away from one of his shows disappointed it's your fault! This album does it's best to capture Joe Bonamassa and the feeling he puts into every song he plays. Not only is the instrumentation crisp and clean, his vocals bring out the passion and feeling put into each song when he wrote it or what he feels when playing someone elses songs. For those of you who have been to one (or more) of his concerts you know what I mean, and for those of you who want to experience Joe live, buy this CD!!! I have never been disappointed in any of Joes' work. Check out his other CDs for more great music!

This is an absolutely fantastic cd set. The music is recorded extremely well, there is a great selection of material and Joe is certainly on his A game for all the pieces. I refer to them as pieces since they are much more like orchestral movements rather than just a song, more than just mere music I should say. Not only is his playing fantastic but one of the things that makes him that little bit more than a lot of players, he shares his soul with us all in his music. Saw him at Bumbershoot in Seattle a couple of weeks ago and WOW is all I can say there too. Didn't know so many peope knew about him, the secret is out!!!!!!!!!!