Radio Now Live

Firesign Theatre | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (November 27, 2001)
• Number of Discs: 2
• Label: Whirlwind Media
• ASIN: B00005MK4X
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #281,237 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

Disc: 1

1. Welcome to Portland

2. The Wall of Science

3. Babe Buys a New Car

4. Radionow With Bebop Lobo

5. Capt. Happy's Traffic Report

6. U.S. Plus

7. Sports in Your Shorts

8. Ralph Spoilsport

9. Next to the Last News

10. Dr. Winkiedinque

See all 16 tracks on this disc

Disc: 2

1. Nightwhispers

2. Nick Danger, Third Eye

3. The Cast [Anything You Want To]

4. The Tower at Dawn (Anything You Want To)

5. The Gravediggers (Anything You Want To)

6. Edmond and Marie (Anything You Want To)

7. Sweet Revenge (Anything You Want To)

8. Goodbyes and Hellos

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

25 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Enjoyable, but not up to the level of their studio work, December 4, 2001

By A Customer

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Radio Now Live (Audio CD)

A very enjoyable performance, but somewhat slower-paced and more expository and linear than their studio stuff. In the studio, they can layer the jokes, fire off quick multi-level puns and move on to the next thing lightning-quick, knowing that you'll have to back up and listen several times to get it all. In live performance, they have to wait for the audience to get the joke or the plot point before they can move forward. In the main "Radio Now" segment (nearly all of the first CD) taken from their "Give Me Immortality..." CD, this takes the form of frequent addresses to the audience by "BeBop Loco" (Phil Austin) to move the story along. However well this worked live, it doesn't come off on audio - it's like having someone explain the story to you as it unfolds. If you've not heard "Give Me Immortality..." you should go there first.

On the other hand, the inclusion of the "rehearsal" version of their Shakespeare piece is quite wonderful, with the shifting of levels between the actor-characters (including our own George Tirebiter) and the Shakespeare-characters used to good effect. Very different from the version on the "Anythynge" CD.

Audience interaction is also a big part of the fun here, though there is always the danger of the whole thing turning into a nostalgia act with the audience shouting out the lines along with the players and slowing things down with gratuitous applause.

All in all, a fun performance but neither the place for the neophyte to start, nor a major addition to the canon.