Customer Reviews

Live at the Turning Point

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

 

 

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.

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.

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.

Willie Nile has put out far too few CDS & I was glad to see this cd release so I bought it & was blown away, the raw energy of this guy is unmatched, so many live cds are not really live as the bands go into the studio & recut everything, its great to hear a show with the audience yelling stuff out to Willie & he talks to them & plays a great selectton from all his albums, can't wait for the new cd, thanks
dave

If you were to define the spirit of rock and roll, this would capture it! This is a concert that would rise the spirits of Holly and Cochran. Yea...sound quality may be off slightly but is rock and roll about perfection??? It's the rough edges that gives it the character.
I too have follow Willie since I heard a live radio broadcast back in the spring of 1980. Of all his albums, this one captures the essence of his talent like no other album.