Customer Reviews

Tripping The Live Fantastic (Highlights)

5 star:		(30)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(8)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This two disc set, like Paul's career, has moments of brilliance and moments of banality.

The Good:

Hearing Beatles songs performed live by the man himself made for an incredible live concert. To be a part of an audience of tens of thousands singing every word in unison was an amazing gestalt experience. The same can be said of a few of the popular post-Beatles songs (feeling the explosions during Live and Let Die was just about worth the price of admission alone). In addition, the band Paul assembled for this tour was tight, professional and up to the challenge of reproducing three decades of musical styles. They also knew how to stay out of Paul's way when singing back-up vocals (though this wasn't always necessarily a good thing - see below).

As for the disc itself - the production values are great. You'll feel like you're sitting in the front row, or in some cases right on stage.

The Bad:

Unfortunately, the crowd's excitement was absent during the "Flowers in the Dirt" tracks. While taken from a competent album, they don't have the same resonance as did the great Fab Four classics, and this comes through on the recording as well.

Also, sadly lacking from the album is Paul's wonderful song medley tribute to John Lennon. Hearing Paul take the lead on some his mate's great songs was perhaps the great emotional center of the concert experience, and the decision to leave them off the album is puzzling.

The Ugly:

Two words: Paul's voice. It has simply never recovered from the shredding it experienced during his first great live tour, "Wings Over America." Listen to pre-'76 and post-'76 Paul for evidence. This damage, combined with the effects of aging, has given his voice the rough quality he once wished for when recording "Oh! Darling." Regretfully, it is not a good roughness. Those who are used to hearing his beautiful crystal-clear tones on Beatles recordings will find only a shadow of their previous glory. While this fact was somewhat disguised during the live performance, it is painfully revealed in the unforgiving digital clarity of the compact disc.

The Verdict:

If you attended the concert, and want an audio keepsake of the experience, then definitely buy it. If you are a Beatles and/or Paul fan (as am I), buy it, but keep expectations reasonable. If your interest in Paul or the Beatles is casual, there are better discs to invest in.

(P.S. the above critique applies almost word-for-word to the follow-up "Paul is Live" from his later New World Tour. Of the two, this is the better.)

Paul McCartney's 1989-90 world tour was an absolute triumph, and this CD is the documentation of that fact. Paul himself hadn't played for a live American audience in 14 years, and it was 10 years before that since the Beatles stopped touring, so this tour was played to a hungrily enthusiastic audience, and that comes across loud and clear on this recording.

Roughly half the tracks here are Beatles tunes, including songs like "Birthday", "Back in the USSR", "Hey Jude", "Get Back", "Let it Be" and the concluding Abbey Road medley, that had never been performed live. This album is an absolute feast for Beatles fans.

Wings material is less well represented, sticking mainly to the mega-hits like "Band on the Run", "Jet" and "Live and Let Die".

The tour also functioned as a pretty good advertisement for the then-new "Flowers in the Dirt" CD; the six tracks presented here are well selected to highlight the strengths of that album. I especially like "Put it There", "We Got Married" and "This One".

The CD does a good job of capturing the band's energy and the crowd's enthusiasm. The setlist is heavier with rock-n-roll numbers like "I Saw Her Standing There", "Can't Buy Me Love", "Birthday", "Get Back" etc. than one might expect at first blush from McCartney, given his reputation for ballads, and the band plays several lengthy jams (see especially "Sgt Pepper").

The sing-along on "Hey Jude" is one of the great concert moments ever; it is representative of a phenomenon that was striking if you had the opportunity to attend one of the concerts from this tour in person - especially on the Beatles tunes, but also several of the others, you heard the band with one ear, and with the other, you heard 20,000 people singing along. The affection between Paul and his audience was palpable, and that comes through very well here.

There is precious little of the Beatles music available in live recording, and this CD helps fill that gap, but really, it stands on its own merit as a wonderful CD, and a great record of a great concert tour.

About as equally as good as his 'Paul Is Live' disc(see my review).This release is the one CD version of the two-CD title.'Tripping...' features seventeen live tracks from McCartney's 1989-90 world tour.Well assembled and superb sound quality.Boy,no one can EVER accuse Paul of dodging the service(to the fans)of playing a good share of Beatles tunes.They're here,like FANTASTIC live versions of "Got To Get You Into My Life","Birthday","The Long And Winding Road","Sgt.Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band","Can't Buy Me Love","Eleanor Rigby","Back In The U.S.S.R.","I Saw Her Standing There","Let It Be",the unforgetable "Hey Jude","Get Back" and "Golden Slumbers".Wow!This is great.Line-up:Paul-bass,guitar&vocals,Linda McCartney(R.I.P.)-keyboards&percussion,Hamis Stuart-guitar&vocals,Robbie McIntosh-guitar and Chris Whitten-drums.Highly recommended.

Paul McCartney's "Tripping the Live Fantastic" forever puts on record what I felt was the live concert to end all concerts. A Beatle fan since they debuted, I never had the opportunity to see them. I vowed if McCartney ever came anywhere near me I'd be there in a heartbeat. Well he did and so I went. What a show! Paul didn't dissapoint in concert and he doesn't dissapoint on this cd. All of the top hits are included (don't waste your money on the "Highlights" cd) and the reproduction is wonderful. It is easily my favorite live cd, better than "Wings Over America" because 1) the band is better 2) the cd quality and production is better and 3) the songs are much, much better. To complain that there is "too many Beatles tunes" is insane! My God, it's the man's finest work and he should rightfully be proud and play it! Every time I play this cd I think back to the concert and remember just how good Paul made me feel that night. He gave me memories I cherish and will keep for a lifetime. He brought back a little of my youth and I thank him for that. I also especially appreciated his liner notes about all the things he saw going on with the crowds. He's truly the Master Entertainer. May he live a long life and share his musical genius with us throughout it!

Back in the days before the internet when tickets were sold by lottery I had no chance in hell to see this tour, so I got this album as a consolation prize. At the time I treasured it. It is a great document of a live performance, moreso than "Back in the U.S.", which skips the interaction with the audience and song introductions. However, upon recent listening you can hear that Paul might not have been in the best voice. He is often horse, his voice breaks and is sometimes overpowered by Hamish doubling his vocals. It also would have been nice had Paul toured with a full brass section. Synthesizers just don't do justice to the arrangements on "Got to Get You into My Life" and so forth. It's a great set with great packaging, certainly the best live set Paul has released. Look for the song recorded in your hometown in the booklet.

In 1989, Paul McCartney was no longer king of the music world, he had lost some credibility with some weak releases in the mid to late 80's and had not toured the US in thirteen years. But then he released a critically acclaimed album, Flowers In The Dirt, and defying expectations, his 1989-90 world tour was monstrously successful. Tripping The Live Fantastic culls together 37 live tracks that include Beatles songs and his solo hits. Since the tour was in support of the Flowers album, there are seven Flowers tracks included, but they like the rest of the album are well done. The other songs offer a generous array of his best work. The solo hits including "Band On The Run", "Coming Up", "Ebony & Ivory", "Maybe I'm Amazed" & "Live & Let Die", the Beatles songs include "Hey Jude", "Can't Buy Me Love", The Abbey Road medley, & "Eleanor Rigby" as well some covers from his Russian album and the disk closes with the Gerry & Pacemakers big Mersey hit "Don't Let The sun Catch You Crying". The album shows the expanse of the man's greatness. If you are a Paul McCartney fan, this album is an absolute must for your collection.

First of all,when you play this live CD,from different parts of the world on every number,you know why were still talking about The Beatles,Wings,Paul McCartney,Legend.The Beatle songs are fantastic,"Birthday"(Knebworth)"Got to get you into my Life"(Dortmund)and my favorite,"The long and Winding Road,"(Rio)Paul sings this number even better live,with beutifull key changes throughout the song."Sgt.Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band"(Los Angeles) is so cool.Paul starts out slow,like on the album,with a great jam session in the middle,then ends with the hard rock version.The Masterpice,"Golden Slumbers/Carry that Weight/The End(Toronto)from "Abby Road," will blow your mind.If I could only have 1 Paul McCartney CD,this would be the 1.

This is my favorite Paul McCartney live album. I am, however, a little biased because I went to one of the shows on the tour and I have to say the CD captures the experience perfectly. This is the live album of the 1989-90 world tour in support of his album FLOWERS IN THE DIRT. True, Paul's voice isn't up to par, but no matter--it is still a great live performance. Paul had voice problems on this tour--in fact the show that I saw had been postponed two months because he lost his voice. But the CD sounds exactly like the show that I saw, so apparently, there was little if any tweaking done during the mixing of the album.

The song listing is nearly verbatim as the concert set-list although it is taking from many different concerts. But it sounds as if it is from one show. The only negative of this album is where they add bits to supposedly enhance the live performance. For example, there is one part where Paul announces the city where he is perfoming and it is followed by him announcing several other cities which are edited from different concerts. Another is, just before he begins playing "Golden Slumbers" he mentions funny nicknames for is wife Linda, again, there is a list of names edited from differents performances. This, at least for me, takes away from the fact that it is a live performance. But this is not a major thing--it's just that I'm a realist at heart. The first tract "SHOWTIME" is actually the backstage show time call for them to enter the stage. This is something the audience could not withness and which I did not like at first. But it has it's charm once you get used to it.

Every song is a performance so it is hard to give the highlights. There are a lot of Beatle songs which he performs with much gusto and there are many Wings songs as well. But Paul never lets you forget that he is promoting his album "FLOWERS IN THE DIRT". His opening song "FIGURE OF EIGHT" is not a song one would think of as being a good opening song, especally the studio version. But Paul puts alot of soul and energy into it and with the added excitment, the song becomes a beacon to the concert ahead. One great moment is when Paul performs the Beatle classic "SGT. PEPPER'S LONLEY HEARTS CLUB BAND" which is a surprising moment. Everyone knows that the song is really two songs with "WITH A LITTLE HELP FROM MY FRIENDS" being the second. Paul, of course, does not do Ringo's part, but what he does with the song is genius.

Another added benefit is the soundcheck songs. Mostly they are songs rom the 50's, but some are made up, spur of the moment in the charming way that only Paul McCartney can make a song up.

If you are a Paul McCartney fan, Beatles fan, a fan of music in general, you will enjoy this album. When you listen to it, you are there live.

At first, when I saw this at Barnes and Nobles, I thought it would be exactly like Paul is Live, only lengthier. Now, Paul is Live, is OKay, but it wasn't his best. But I saw the phenomenal Get Back DVD and was convinced to listen to the audio only, so I went ahead and purchased this 32 dollar album.
To my amazement, everyone in the band, and even the audience seemed more energized than in the Get Back video and Paul is Live. I felt "naturally high" listening to Ebony and Ivory with Paul's great voice along with the almighty Hamish Stuart's voice.
Sgt. Pepper was a blast, very rock'n'roll and just pure fun, it's not oversaturated with synthesizing crap like the original. This One is an underrated gem from McCartney's Flowers in the Dirt, and so is My Brave Face. I especially liked the new "heavier" arrangement to the acoustic Things We Said Today. And The Abbey Road Medley was probably the standout performance of the tour (well, maybe Sgt. Pepper was with that lenghty guitar solo duel between McIntosh and McCartney)
All in all, everybody who's anybody would go out and get this album. Beatle fan, McCartney fan, or just music fan will enjoy the sophistication of the album and also the wild fun it gives.

I love this album and listen to it all the time. Great live versions of Paul and Beatle classics. His makes Beatle songs come alive in a different way on this CD. Puts a little more Rock in them, not that they need improving. Anyone who hasn't seen Paul live should get this CD to at least capture a small piece of the experiance. "Wings Over America" is also a great live album from Paul. "Paul is Live" is good too, but I like WOA and this one more.