Live at the Turning Point [Live]

Willie Nile | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (May 15, 2007)
• Original Release Date: 2007
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Live
• Label: River House
• ASIN: B000R8YLXC
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #498,248 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

March 3rd 2006 was a truly historic night. Fresh off his raucous full band Streets Of New York release party in NYC days earlier, Willie Nile headed an hour north to Piermont, home of the legendary Turning Point, for a stripped-down trio show that turned out to be one for the record books. The sold-out crowd was treated to a concert in which Nile and friends (Jimmy Vivino & Rich Pagano) showed why Streets Of New York has been called one of the year's best efforts by numerous publications and radio stations. From the opening line of Welcome To My Head, every single person in the packed club could feel the energy in the air. Nile's songs are well-crafted sonnets penned by someone who has experienced a great deal but played with the exuberance of a young punk band. There were seven songs from Streets Of New York played this night, coupled with mainstays Vagabond Moon, That's Enough For Me, Les Champs Elysees, Hard Times In America and On The Road To Calvary. Nile also pays homage to three of his main influences with some rocking cover songs by The Who, The Ramones and Dylan. He was full of stories and offered the crowd insight into the songs and inspiration behind them as well as some lighthearted anecdotes that have become trademarks of Nile's acoustic shows. Thankfully our tapes were rolling and this most special night was captured for you to hear. Enjoy. 1 Welcome To My Head 2 Asking Annie Out 3 Vagabond Moon 4 Les Champs Elysees 5 The Day I Saw Bo Diddley In Washington Square 6 That's Enough For Me 7 Cell Phones Ringing (In The Pockets Of The Dead) 8 When One Stands 9 On The Road To Calvary 10 On Some Rainy Day 11 It's All Over Now, Baby Blue 12 Hard Times In America 13 Substitute 14 Streets Of New York 15 I Wanna Be Sedated

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars What a Major Disappointment, May 30, 2007

By 

south tampa cane "sotampacane" (Tampa , Florida) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Live at the Turning Point (Audio CD)

As someone who has been a Willie Nile fan since the release of his first album, I anxiously look forward to hearing anything he puts out.His last two releases have been excellent and probably some of his best work ever.

Live at the Turning Point is something else entirely. Its a poorly recorded, amateurish release that no one except completists should shell out $15 or more for. I was stunned when I listened to this by the awful sound. Its as if someone with a 1970's tape recorder and a single microphone walked into the club and placed it on a table in front of the band and hit 'play'. The percussion sound (are those drums or garbage cans the guy is hitting?) is hideous, the between song banter often obscured by crowd noise, and the performance itself just fair. I've seen Willie many times, including 3 times last year at SXSW and any of those shows were far better than this allegedly 'legendary' performance.

I don't like when artists do large amounts of overdubs to make live albums sound better, but when the other end of the spectrum is just to release something 'as is' with no effort made at all to make the listening experience more enjoyable, its even worse. Willie should be ashamed of himself for letting something like this get released. Its an insult to his fans and a complete rip off.

I am relatively confident that fans could source better live shows from the 'Streets of New York' shows on the internet without having to pay good money. I am all for supporting artists, especially ones who are as woefully overlooked as Willie Nile, but even that has its limits, and 'Live at the Turning Point' is not worth buying.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars What a rip off!, June 5, 2007

By 

SumoSid (New Jersey, United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Live at the Turning Point (Audio CD)

I cannot believe I paid $15 for this horribly recorded live CD. "Live at the Turning Point" should be given away as a bonus for buying his next studio CD, not sold as a stand alone CD. The sound reminds me of bootlegs recorded when a bootlegger snuck a tape recorder in his pants.

I am a fan of Willie's and own all of his CDs, but I am very disappointed with this release.

3.0 out of 5 stars Good songs hurt by deaf recording engineer., June 29, 2011

By 

Sandy R (California) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Live at the Turning Point (Audio CD)

Agree with 2 of the other 4 reviewers. Willie is an excellent performer and is as captivating live as on studio releases. This one recording, however, has horrible recording settings/levels. A live CD is capable of much better quality than this. In fact, there are other live recordings of Willie with much better sound and most of the same songs. I suggest "Live From The Streets Of New York", which has ~most~ of the album of the same name, recorded live, or else "Live-Hard Times In The U.K.", which is also good.

The low grade is entirely due to the poor recording, not intended as a slam on the very talented Mr. Nile. If the sound was better, this would be a 4 or 5 star album.