Live: Working Without a Net [Live]

Janis Ian | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (October 7, 2003)
• Number of Discs: 2
• Format: Live
• Label: Oh Boy
• ASIN: B0000CC85L
• Also Available in: Audio CD
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #271,565 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

Disc: 1

1. This Train Still Runs

2. Fly Too High

3. Intro: "We Love You"

4. Take Me Walking in the Rain

5. Jesse

6. Paris in Your Eyes

7. Ride Me Like a Wave

8. Love Is Blind

9. Intro: "Vote for Me"

10. Boots Like Emmy Lou's

See all 16 tracks on this disc

Disc: 2

1. Intro: "Has-Been at 19"

2. Stars

3. Will You Dance?

4. Honor Them All

5. Intro: "Moving Back Home"

6. At Seventeen

7. Cosmopolitan Girl

8. Tattoo

9. Watercolors

10. Breaking Silence

See all 15 tracks on this disc

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

In the mass of singer/songwriters that seem to surface weekly it is easy to forget that older masters of the craft still walk among us and offer vital work. Janis Ian’s brilliant 2000 release God & the FBI got lost in this glut--more’s the pity. Working Without A Net sums up a career to date that while producing the justly famous "Society’s Child," "At Seventeen," and "Jesse," also given us such lesser known gems as "Love Is Blind," "Boots Like Emmy Lou’s," and many of the others included here. Over a decade’s worth of live performances reveal an emotionally wrenching singer, a fine guitarist, and a remarkably consistent writer. Hopefully Working Without A Net will make people want to go back and explore gems like Breaking Silence, and the aforementioned God & the FBI. At the very least it raises the bar for the current crop of would-be troubadours. --Michael Ross

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Super Live Set, January 30, 2004

By 

Lee Armstrong (Winterville, NC United States) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Live: Working Without a Net (Audio CD)

I've enjoyed some great 2 CD live sets such as Bonnie Raitt's "Road Tested," Laura Nyro's "The Loom's Desire" and the James Taylor "Live" set. Janis Ian's "Working Without A Net" ranks right up with the best. First of all, a prerequisite for me, the sound quality is excellent. In the excellent notes in the booklet, she details how this was recorded on two-track, not multi-tracked and edited and cleaned up in the studio. What we hear is what happened live.

From the opening drums on "This Train Still Runs" and the train whistle blowing, we can tell we're in for a great bash. "Fly Too High" was not one I was familiar with, but it's great jazzy rendition written with Giorgio Moroder makes me hit repeat. The hits "Jesse," "Stars," & "Society's Child" shimmer like familiar jewels in new settings. The humor songs "Boots Like Emmy Lou's" & "Cosmopolitan Girl" are great fun. "Honor Them All" which I first became acquainted with on the Mothers Against Drunk Drivers CD works well as recorded in Japan. Janis talks about feeling sad when listening to "Silly Habits" because she injured her hand & will never play piano again as she did that night in Holland. The CD concludes with the wacked out version of "These Boots Were Made for Walking" which is great fun.

Janis writes, "The relationship between performer & audience at a live show is fascinating, energizing, amazing. A good audience feeds you, makes you want to exceed your best. And a good performance feeds the audience, making them feel that you're speaking to them directly." Janis indeed accomplishes this on "Working Without A Net." She & Oh Boy Records have picked some blockbuster performances from her many live tapes. Bravo!

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Who needs a net when you can soar like this?, April 15, 2004

By 

Paige Turner (Los Angeles, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Live: Working Without a Net (Audio CD)

Stop reading these reviews and order this CD! If Janis isn't coming to your town, this is the next best thing to seeing her live. She is authentic, warm, funny and amazingly gifted.

Her songs have a social consciousness without being preachy. Who do you think paved the way for Suzanne Vega, Alanis Morisette, and the rest of those female singer-songwriters? Janis wrote the book on great writing. She knows how to weave a lyric that lingers for days around your heart.

This is a woman whose had an amazing 40 year career and shows no sign of slowing down. With age usually comes wisdom. Janis was wise beyond her years as a teenager. I think she has many great songs left to write, but this CD gives you a great overview of her music.

You walk into her show wondering how you'll be entertained by a four foot nothing middle aged Jewish lesbian. Buy the CD and you'll understand. JANIS ROCKS!

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars We All Learned The Truth At Seventeen?, November 1, 2003

By 

Anthony Accordino (Massapequa Park, New York United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Live: Working Without a Net (Audio CD)

Janis Ian has long been one of music's best kept secrets. She and many other artists of her generation, are a dying breed of singer songwriters, who continue to release top notch material, but go unnoticed, as record labels continue to promote their visual Barbie dolls, and give little money to promote talent from the past. "Working Without A Net", is a pure live disc, without any studio re-workings, so what you get is the concert as it happened. Recorded in various parts of the the world, in locations, like Japan, Europe and the States, This cd proves to be an absolute delight. Tunes like "At Seventeen", "Society's Child" and "Jesse", all sound great and were her biggest hits. The good news, is if you are only vaguely familiar with Janis and her music, you get to hear a great cross section of her lifes work. She can be both serious and comical during a performance, as evident by her songs "Breaking Silence" and "Cosmopolitan Girl". Janis writes songs about many topics that can shoot straight to the heart just as her biggest hit "At Seventeen", did during the mid-seventies. She sings the truth, and that is what makes her so special in my eyes. A great performer has just put out a great live disc, that deserves recognition.