Customer Reviews

Long Journey Home (W/Dvd)

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

 

 

CD: 4 stars; DVD: 4.5 stars

The Cowboy Junkies celebrate their 20 years existence as a band with the release of another live album, less than 2 years following the live "Open Road" album. This particular album was taped at a show in Liverpool, England, in October, 2004 during the "One Soul Now" tour.

The DVD (18 tracks, plus 3 interviews; 180 min.) brings the 2 hour show in its entirety and is as top notch as I can ever remember the Cowboy Junkies. Starting of with a 10 min. cover of Lou Reed's "Sweet Jane", a song that the CJ have made their own over the years, the 2 hours flow by like a dream. Michael Timmins' guitar work shines throughout, and Margo Timmins' singing has gotten stronger and more confident in the last 10 years. Other great tracks include the 14 min. epic "32-20 Blues" (the Robert Johnson tune), with mesmerizing solos throughout, "The Slide", a beautiful cover of Neil Young's "Helpless", and the closer "Misguided Angel", with just Michael and Margo by themselves. Of the extras, only the half hour interview with Michael and Margo is really worth watching. Let's give a big thumbs up, though, to the band for maximizing the content capacity of this DVD (3 hours long!).

The CD (11 tracks, 70 min.) is a more curious affair. For whatever reason, not only was a selection made from the songs brought that night, but strangely the running order was completely mixed up. So the CD starts midway in the concert, with the afore-mentioned "32-20", and the evening's opener ("Sweet Jane") is now the closer! Once you've seen the DVD, you expect the CD to run like the actual show, but it doesn't. That said, the Cowboy Junkies really are at their peak on this set.

In all, this CD/DVD combo is a wonderful gift for Cowboy Junkies fans all over, and available at a very fan-friendly price here on Amazon. Highly recommended! If you like Cowboy Junkies, check out Over the Rhine, which is similiar in style (OtR just issued a new all-original Christmas album called "Snow Angels").

Similar to and different from the Cowboy Junkies 2004 release of "Open Road" which documented the band's song book auditorialty and visually during their 2000-2001 tours, "Long Journey Home" continues the CD/DVD combo treatment that will please dedicated fans more than the casual listener.

The Junkies 2004 tour wrapped up in the musically historic city of Liverpool, a specific nod to why the band chose to record on this date. The DVD concert program is professionally shot with multi cameras that provide intimate views of each member on thier instruments. The band performs a solid setlist which spans most of their albums (some of which get smart re-working) and a few then-current covers. However, the winning factor is that the Junkies were in top notch attention with eachother and planned to visually capture this concert on thier terms (as opposed to the made-for-television performances on "Open Road") that results in a genuinely focused Cowboy Junkies concert. Fortunately, the extras are not all waste. If one can get anything from the in-depth interviews - it reinforces that each band member is still excited and energized about continuing to make music in the future - "even when their 65 and playing the Holiday Inn circuit" as the band's production manager states.

The CD program contains tracks culled from that same performance in Liverpool, only the concert is edited and the setlist is re-arranged. To me, an opportunity was missed to capture the true nature of the Junkies entire 2004 tour onto CD (much like the live "Waltz Across America" release). Because the Junkies record each of their concert dates, "Long Journey Home" should have been a collection of songs from that tour's cities as opposed to a briefed re-hash of what is already hear on the DVD. For that reason alone, the 5 star rating has been dropped to a 4.


While the entire performance is strong, my personal highlights are mainly their new material from "One Soul Now" and thier interpretive choice of cover songs:

Robert Johnson's "32-20 Blues" (a 14+ minute hypnotic jam interwoven with multiple free-form solos while anchored by a liquidy simple-groove bassline).

George Harrisons "Isn't It A Pity" (which appeared live b/f the band's 2005 "21st Century Blues" album).

Neil Young's "Helpless" (captured live after being placed on the Junkies "Neath Your Covers" ep which sistered their "One Soul Now" album).

I have been a Junkies fan since the mid 80's. I love all of their stuff. I have every album and each one is as good as the other, however, this one blew me away. Both the DVD and the CD are great. I enjoyed especially the version of "Sweet Jane" and "Good Friday". They also have a great live cover of "Helpless". I highly recommend this to any Cowboy Junkies fan.

Previously released as a DVD only, it is nice to have a CD to go along with the DVD. It is well worth the price of admission in particularly for a somewhat more aggressive "Sweet Jane" highlighting Mike Timmins stellar guitar work, as well as an extended "32-20 Blues". Other standouts are "Pale Sun" and "He Will Call You Baby". The concert footage is excellent due to great performances of both old and newer selections. The DVD has 7 additional songs. My only gripe is that this combo CD and DVD should have been the only release. Having two releases is kind of a rip off of the longtime fans of this great Canadian group. Hence only 4 stars rather than 5.

Long Journey Home is perfect for those of us who are hugh CJ fans but have an opportunaty to get to see them in person. This is a two disc set. first one is a CD the second a DVD. Both of them recorded live in London. I listen to the CD first and really liked it. Then I watched the DVD and I loved it! The Junkies don't resort to lazer lights or fancy gimmicks when they are on stage. The set up is very plain and simple. They rely on Michael Timmons mastery of the guitar, the sweet melody of Margo Timmons voice and the rhythem lines of Peter Timmons drums and Alan Anton's bass to set the whole mood of the performance. It is worth buying these discs if for no other reason then to hear the extended 12:00 version they do of "Sweet Jane" and their outstanding version of the Robert Johnson song "32-20 Blues". This is a definate addition for anyone who is a fan of Cowboy Junkies.

The cd is great and the dvd could have been great had it been filmed correctly. Who's bright idea was it to light Margo's face from above using a cold blue light that made her look like a wrinkled corps? And why can't anyone film a concert where a camera shot lasts more than five seconds. The editing keeps jumping from one shot to another every 3 seconds. Cowboy Junkie songs are rich and sumptuous. The constant change in camera shot detracts from the experience. A great band like this deserves better. Their fans deserve better. Hope we get a better dvd next time. That's a lot of betters.