Live at the Old Quarter [Import, Original recording remastered]

Townes Van Zandt | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (February 5, 2007)
• Original Release Date: 2007
• Number of Discs: 2
• Format: Import, Original recording remastered
• Label: Snapper UK
• ASIN: B000089AQO
• Also Available in: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #191,802 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Announcement

2. Pancho And Lefty

3. Mr Mudd And Mr Gold

4. Don't You Take It Too Bad

5. Two Girls

6. Fraternity Blues

7. If I Needed You

8. Brand New Companion

9. White Freightliner Blues

10. To Live Is To Fly

11. She Came And She Touched Me

12. Talking Thunderbird Blues

13. Rex's Blues

14. Nine Pound Hammer

15. For The Sake Of The Song

16. Chauffeur's Blues

17. No Place To Fall

18. Loretta

19. Kathleen

20. Why She's Acting This Way

See all 27 tracks on this disc

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Better than Dylan?, March 29, 2008

By 

T. Hermes (Spring Hill, TN) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Live at the Old Quarter (Audio CD)

Next to Cash's Live at Folsom, this is the best country/folk/Americana live album ever made. I personally have always considered Bob Dylan far and away the premier songwriter of his time and I was put off by Steve Earle's oft quoted statement that TVZ is the best songwriter in the world (and he will stand on Bob Dylan's coffee table in his cowboy boots and say that).

Ahhhh, this album shows Earle to be very close to being right. Townes' songs are PERFECTLY written, every word and phrase in their exact places. Like Mozart hearing his opera in his head fully formed, Townes seems to do the same, like an angel sent down to Earth to be a conduit from the Creator to us mere mortals. Like Van Gough, his work will prove to be timeless, growing in stature and value as the ages roll.

Dylan's work is, of course, wonderful,immense, historical - a body of work that will stand the test of time as surely as any of the great classical composers.

Van Zandt's work is different. It's poetry in its pure form. It's lovely and understated and complex and timeless and it, too, is a great body of work. Not revolutionary, no anthems, just songs to be sung and LISTENED to and enjoyed. Songs that grow with every listening, songs that stand as art, songs that sound like every other song until it hits you that they are like no other songs.

Recorded at The Old Quarter in Houston, TX over five steamy nights in July 1973, Live at The Old Quarter captures for posterity the genius that is Townes Van Zandt at the artistic height of his live performances.

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Total disbelief, October 26, 2007

By 

Juan Falcone (Rockland County, New York) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Live at the Old Quarter (Audio CD)

My reaction to this double album is total disbelief. Disbelief that it took me thirty years to find this, after encountering Townes van Zandt's songs through so many other musicians over the years. But more importantly, disbelief that the power of his performance riveted a rowdy, sweltering Houston barroom to pin-drop silence. What on earth was he doing, writing songs like that, going to places outside of time that few others can go?

Don't talk to me about 'unplugged' albums -- "Live at the Old Quarter" is the original, and probably the greatest one. It features Townes van Zandt in top form, performing a lifetime's worth of stellar songs, at the age of 29. His poetry set to music is original source material, seemingly channeled from a different and better place:

To live is to fly
All low and high
So shake the dust off of your wings
And the sleep out of your eyes

"Live at the Old Quarter" is a treasure trove and a masterpiece.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Folk Singer, May 22, 2007

By 

Steve Yates (M.O.D.,Va.) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Live at the Old Quarter (Audio CD)

I haven't listened to this since about 1985 which I had on an album and I was very glad to be able to purchase it on C.D. It has brought back some old memories and inspired me to play some more of his songs on guitar, some of which I learned from my guitar teacher when I was a teenager. I hope more people buy this and realize how good of an artist Townes Van Zandt is and know he is the person who wrote the song "Pancho and Lefty"- not Willie Nelson. Thanks Amazon for providing me the access to be able to get this recording again.