Customer Reviews

Shawn Phillips: Living Contribution - Live at Kirstenbosch Gardens

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

 

 

I have been a life long fan of Shawn Phillips. The first time I saw him live was at Rosy's (a small club)in New Orleans back in the 1970's. Back then he was completely alone on stage and was dynamite. This time around he has a backing band that does an excellent job considering the short time they were able to prepare for this gig. The mixture of old and new material was very well presented. The setting for this outdoor concert was suberb and it was nice to 'take-in' the scenary and relaxed atmosphere while listening to Shawn's music. He may have slowed down a step over the years, but his music trenscends time and it was a real pleasure to experience Shawn Phillips again after all these years.

Ah yes, being a Shawn Phillips fan from the days I can't always remember, I was thrilled to see this DVD available. It really gets rocking and the sound is very good. It's odd that Shawn would reocrd a concert when the bands members had one day to practice (see liner notes)but they pull it off and then some. I have always though Shawn should be more recognized as he has made a solid music contribution and creatvie influence on many. His message is acute relevant to the chaos of modern times, soul searching, often humourous. "2,3,4 if you look over there bbe you know you might find..."

Those of us who have been listening to Shawn for the last 40-something years know him as one of the movers & shakers of the modern music world, although usually behind the scenes letting his friends get all the glory. His fingerprints are all over the works of more famous & better paid rock heros. To the mainstream he is a "best kept secret", a hidden treasure that you almost missed. For his 70th birthday he announced that the tour would be his last, but he keeps coming back because we keep telling him that our world would be less colorful without him.

"Live at Kirstenbosch Gardens" is a perfect chance for the uninformed to find out what they've been missing all these years and for Shawn's friends, like me, to get a great video record of what his concerts are like, just in case he finally keeps his promise to his new bride and really does retire.

What makes this especially giggle-inducing was his announcement that he and this band had only one day rehearsal before performing a practically flawless show. Shawn definately knows how to choose his company and karma will be unkind to those radio stations & DJs who have ignored one of the finest musicians of western civilization.

Shawn's concerts are always fantastically fulfilling. He is so real, so present, and so talented ... and when he plays with musicians - as he does in this concert from South Africa - the additional life and talent enhances the wonderfulness. In the 70s and 80s I attended 4 of his concerts. There simply is no one better. This is my first Shawn DVD, and I am delighting in sharing it with my friends who don't known Shawn as well as I do. The bonus material, recorded with Shawn speaking the day before the concert, lets us know more about the man behind the music & his awesome lyrics too. I have seen many of the songs performed on YouTube, and gotten the lyrics from [...], but the experience is best on excellent A/V equipment, so this DVD is a must.

Shawn Phillips has always been one of my favorite artists. Really enjoyed this concert on DVD, but the Moonshine track, which should be about five minutes long, cuts off suddenly after only about two minutes. Tried it on three different players with the same result. Oh well- at least the rest of the DVD played OK and I also have the audio disc, so I can still listen to the complete version of Moonshine.

This disc literally locked up both my blu-ray and regular DVD players part way through the concert so I returned it for another, but it had the same problem so I returned it also. Thank you Amazon for taking them back.

Otherwise, the music that I was able to hear is typical Swawn Phillips, in other words "great". Based on his music my wife and I imagined him to have a something of a mystical, maybe even zen-like persona but it turns out he is just a regular guy. Cool!