Customer Reviews

Precious Friend

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At this writing, Pete Seeger is 81, and while he's still performing in spurts, my understanding is that he's sounding every day his age, and he knows it. Back when this album was recorded in the early 80s, though, he was in fine form and when playing with Arlo, he was always at his best.

I had the opportunity to see these two together in 1983 and it's the only time I saw an act get a two-minute standing ovation -- BEFORE they had even played a note. This album includes a lot of the songs that Pete and Arlo did at the concert I saw.

Arlo's band, Shenandoah, comes along for the ride but they're screamingly unnecessary. The highlights are many: "I'm changing my name to Chrysler," "The Garden Song," and "In Dead Earnest," Pete's little tribute to the late former Weaver Lee Hays, to name a few.

I wish Warners or somebody would have the presence of mind to re-release the live set from Boston that Pete and Arlo put out around 1974. As good as this CD is, the first live album leaves this one in the dust.

So while Seeger may never again have the vocal chops that he once had, it's nice to have albums like this around to remind us of the old days. Oh, and I don't mean to slight Arlo; he's especially good here, too, and still in peak form here in the new century!

Just when I thought all was lost
You changed my mind
You gave me hope not just the
old soft soap
You showed that we could learn to
share in time
You and me and Rockefeller
I'll keep plugging on
Your face will shine
Through all our tears
And when we sing another little
victory song
Precious friend you will be there
Singing in harmony
Precious friend you will be there
(Copyright 1974, Stormking Music BMI)

Arlo Guthrie and Pete Seeger teamed up in the summer of 1981 to give a blessed crowd an incredible opportunity to enjoy a SUPERB outdoor concert performance. The songs on the two CD set are mostly folk music about the working class and the everyday common man. We hear songs about the "raggedy raggedy" workers who need empowerment in the form of a union to stay alive; and there's a great song entitled "I'm changing my name to Chrysler" sung by Arlo to demonstrate how fat corporate America gets much more social welfare in the form of government bail-outs than the poor ever will. Arlo's sarcasm of the necessity for money for impoverished people to merely exist is evident in his social commentary song "Do Re Mi." (Arlo uses the word "Do" as a synonym for money.) Arlo also dreams of a world where guns disintegrate and flowers grow; the crowd becomes ecstatic. However, there's more than just social commentary and opinions here. There's also the beautiful love song sung by Pete, "Kisses Sweeter Than Wine;" and the song "Circles" about the twists and turns of life. We are treated to the bittersweet yet somewhat amusingly performed classic "Please Don't Talk About Me When I'm Gone" sung by Arlo with the musicians accompanying him. The electricity throughout the concert is amazing but this last song is especially powerful because of the way it is so beautifully performed with just the right amount of improvisation. Yet the most powerful moments are at the very end of the concert when Arlo sings the infamous "Amazing Grace." Arlo explains that the song was written by the captain of a slave ship who realized the error of his ways and turns his boat around to return the would-be slaves back to Africa.

All throughout, both Arlo and Pete enjoy a masterful ability to lead their audience exactly where they want to take them while keeping them entertained all the way!!! Pete often helps the audience participate by singing along with his songs; Pete has often called himself a "sing-along leader" on many occasions during his career. Even at the end of a fairly long concert; the electric atmosphere is so powerful that the audience is truly screaming for still more. A tour de force for Arlo and Pete!

The CD set is well produced and of course being a professional recording it is recorded from the soundboard on stage and certainly not from the audience. Arlo and Pete have ample musicians to help them along, introduced by Arlo by their first names only during the song "Please Don't Talk About Me When I'm Gone." The musicians make this classic into a great jam session with a lot of fun for the audience and any CD listener.

In addition, the two CD set comes with a booklet giving you all the words and credits for each song. In addition, most of Arlo's spoken words to the audience are carefully written out for you here.

If you are a folk music fan but you don't have this two CD set in your collection, get it now and set aside a LOT of time because you will not be able to listen to this set only once before putting it away. I have listened to it countless times over the years and it has never lost a shred of freshness nor power. If you want a primer on folk music laced with some spiritual accents and social commentary, then this is also a great CD set for you. We are truly lucky to have these two ingenious men amongst us all these years. Their compassion, intelligence and wit abound in every song so carefully performed for their audience. If you can, I would also recommend any other CD set that showcases the talents of Arlo Guthrie and Pete Seeger performing together live. This would include the two CD set of their 1975 live concert entitled Together in Concert, and possibly also More Together Again IN Concert which was recorded in the early 1990s.

A BUY! SMILE

I must admit to not knowing too much about either Pete Seeger or Arlo. I bought this album on a whim one day and have not regretted it one bit.

The album is a live show that Pete and Arlo did in the eighties, complete with light hearted folk music and the occasional story thrown in for good measure. You can tell Arlo and Pete are having a blast and that being at that show would have been one heck of a good time. Very few live albums make you wish you really had been there; this one does.

Songs like "I'm Changing My Name to Chrysler" and "Old Time Religion" are silly and great to sing along to, but the show takes serious tones as well with Arlo performing some of his father's songs, and Pete doing stuff such as "If I Had a Hammer."

The album concludes with Arlo's rendition of "Amazing Grace" which truly gives me goose bumps everytime I hear it.

This is a perfect example of a quintessential Arlo Guthrie concert from the 80's. Arlo always has a charming, convoluted story (for years it was a variation on Alice's Restaurant), followed by an audience singalong. Pete Seeger adds his own wonderful counterpoint to Arlo in this concert.

I originally bought this on vinyl in the 80's, and it is one of my well-worn favorites.

The choice of songs is great, and you will find yourself humming them to yourself sometimes, or teaching them to your kids ("Garden Song", "Wimoweh", "If I Had A Hammer", etc).

I always try to see Arlo in concert whenever he is in the area, in no small part because of this album.

My tape copy has been worn out, my CD replaced twice, once because my friend's daughter was going overseas and she wanted it and the next because my own original had a skip or two.

If you listen to Pete Seeger singing the Walbash Cannonball the melody will haunt you and Wehomaweh will amaze you with the range of his voice and the Tarantella will have your toe tapping. Smiles will come every time you hear The Garden Song, with Pete & Arlo singing. And in this troubled time I'm Changing My Name to Chrysler and The Neutron Bomb sung by Arlo makes one shake thier head, and sort of smile.

The musical quality is superb for a live recording, the choices of songs for this CD were at the time topical and are still. This is a CD or tape or album that is timeless and amazing to listen to and will become a favorite of the whole family...tiny ones love The Garden Song and my teen just refered to the Chrysler song as a political ballad that she needed to hear again since it had been a year or 2 since she had listened to it.

Every fan of Pete or Arlo should have this cd. It's got some great tunes and classic Arlo comedy. There's not a bad song on the two discs. This is my second favorite live recording by these two.

My favorite record of theirs is finally available on cd, and you can even buy it at Amazon now. It's called Arlo Guthrie & Pete Seeger Together in Concert. It came out in 1975 and the concert was shown on PBS.

So my advice is to buy this one, and if you like it go get the other one too.

I just became aware of this 2 disk CD set and had to snatch it up. This is a two-man live folk extravaganza featuring Pete Seeger and Arlo Guthrie (the son of Woody Guthrie).

While the recordings were done in 1981, the songs are still timeless particularly "I'm Changing My Name to Crysler" which Guthrie cheerfully admits to stealing from Tom Paxton.

"Do-Re-Mi" is another tale about a Dust Bowl time California immigrant realizing he just wasn't going to survive in the Promised Land without money. Recently, the Flatlanders turned this theme into a "Homeland Refugee."

Of course, you've also got "If I had a Hammer" and "The Lion Sleeps Tonight." Plus, a moving tribute to Harry Chapin, "All My Life's a Circle." And there's "Pretty Boy Floyd", a Woody Guthrie song, performed by his son.

The music's enjoyable, but the camaraderie evident in this CD is even better. If you enjoy either of these two artists, you are going to want to snatch up this gem.

Rebecca Kyle, December 2009

IF YOU ARE LOOKING FOR SOME GOOD OLD FASHIONED, TOE TAPPING, SING ALONG, (FOLK) MUSIC THIS IS WHERE IT'S AT. IT EVEN HAS A SONG SHEET. YOU CAN'T HELP BUT FEEL GOOD AFTER VISITING WITH PETE AND ARLO.

This has long been a favorite that is worth replacing my old LP and car tape version. Two generations of folk singers together with some wonderful songs. The "Old Time Religion" is a particular favorite, as is Arlo's humorous rendition of "the Garden Song" (Inch by inch, row by row). The album is like going to a live concert - well it is a live concert.

This was an exceptional performance by Pete, Arlo and company. My favorite cut is Run Come See Jerusalem, but the entire offering is absolutely great!