Customer Reviews

Live in Tokyo: Playing Real Good

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

 

 

I was loaned this by a friend, after raving about the Kaiser-Lindley "World Out of Time" Madagascar series. This is a live album by guitarist David Lindley and percussionist Hani Naser. They are the only two musicians. The songs are largely from Lindley's back catalog, including some El Rayo-X cuts. The music has an old-timey blues feel, with several songs sounding like they could have been written a century ago. Lindley's voice is a cross between Levon Helm of the Band and "O Brother, Where Art Thou". He's playing acoustic, with a fair amount of slide. My favorite track is the office-party luau "Tiki Torches at Twilight". I'm not sure I want to know what "She Took Off My Romeos" is about--sounds awfully Bobbitt-y--but it's a very catchy song. And what a compliment, to tell a woman that Hitler would have loved her "More Than Eva Braun". There's also a Warren Zevon cover, "Play It All Night Long". This CD is well worth checking out, so "let's all get normal at the luau".

Great stuff on this CD - Hani is great too - highly recommended - not like David's older stuff but a little raunchier than his new stuff - get it!!

It can be a bit frustrating searching out Lindley's best stuff these days. His 80's El Rayo-X years are well represented and usually at a good deal, but for his wealth of recent "solo" material recorded first with Hani Naser and then with Wally Ingram you need to go to a show (best choice!), or surf over to his website, davidlindley.com, where the action really is. These duo (guitar and drum) formate recordings are surprisingly full sounding and wonderfully musical and entertaining. I'm glad amazon at least has a few later recordings listed as imports. They are all good. (I give this one 4 stars due to sound quality, but it is an official bootleg after all, some of it from the tapes taken from bootleggers caught I presume in the crowd.). More power to you Mr. Dave, long may you strum.....

I owe Dylan heaps, and not just for helping me mature during the late 1960s. According to Robbie Robertson, Dylan accelerated The Band to full maturity too. But more musicians than I dare to count have passed through his various incarnations. And, keen to look around corners, I trailed after Doug Sahm, Norman Blake, & David Lindley, to name a few from which I've profited. Which brings me multi-instrumentalist, Lindley. Briefly, much as I like the Ex-Rayo CDs, its the first Madagascan CD, this live set & another (unlisted here) called 'Twango Bango' which are worth seeking out. This last, obtained from Lindley at a Blues Fest near Brisbane, Aust. a few years back, roars to life on track 4 with,'Coot From Tennessee' and segues through a tender reading of,'Do You want my Job', van Zandt's,'I am a Patriot," & a stunning version of the Dylan/O'Keefe,'Well,Well,Well.' At 70 minutes plus, it's a concert's worth of praiseworthy interpretations of unjustly lesser known works by some stellar artists. The musianship is stunning. Lindley's reedy tenor plaintively pitched just above his stringed things, is the perfect foil to the lush variety of skin man, Wally Ingram's superlative drumming.

I bought this CD at a performance. David Lindley is a national treasure, one who can pick up a stringed instrument and play. He is great on this album, with acoustic tunes from El Rayo-X and others. It is available on his web site along with several other live albums. All are worth a listen.

I saw David Lindley and Hani Naser several years ago opening for Richard Thompson in Austin TX. It was the usual summer day in Austin - hot and humid. Out comes a leprechuan dressed in the most godawful leisure suit created by man. Accompanying the leprechuan is a man playing what look like clay gardening pots of varying sizes and shapes.

Thus begins a magical afternoon listening to the superlative songs of David Lindley & Hani Naser. David's voice is nothing to get excited about, his stories are funny (the 1st or 2nd time, maybe not so much the 3rd or 4th), but he can play guitar (and pretty much any other stringed instrument in the world). And Hani Naser on an assortment of middle eastern percussion instruments adds just the right back-up to Lindley's guitar playing. The songs were all over the place - Warren Zevon, a couple of humorous pieces (Tiki Torches, Eva Braun), pieces from Lindley's El X-Rayo days and foray to Madagascar. I fell in love with Afindraihao (different version found on World out of Time) and Ain't No Way (Baby).

Naser is the perfect back-up for Lindley's often intense, ornate guitar stylings. The hand drumming amplifies the guitar's notes. I have seen Lindley every chance I have had since that afternoon in Austin. These appearances have been without Naser and I have felt the loss to the music. But I am energized to write a review of this excellent album because I have tickets to see Lindley and Naser in Santa Fe next week. Buy it and enjoy these guitar and drum virtuosos together.

The disc sounds just like the concert tour I saw, and both are amazing