VH-1 Storytellers [Live]

Billy Idol | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (February 26, 2002)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Live
• Label: Capitol
• ASIN: B00005UWG6
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (19 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #69,316 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars It's like the old songs are new all over again!, February 14, 2005

By 

Get What We Give (Georgia) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: VH-1 Storytellers (Audio CD)

Billy Idol is truly an enigmatic rock star. He was, arguably, the driving force behind Generation X, a late 70's punk band. He saw the wave coming (new wave) and got on it in the U.S. with his MTV good looks and bad boy style and dynamite delivery. Idol knew how to make good music, but he was an even better at marketing himself. He made sure he surrounded himself with excellent people (Steve Stevens). He kept up his style and his image and it served him well. Unfortunately, as the 90's came about, Billy seems to have begun to believe his own press and he started spiraling down a drug addicted path that saw him become creatively deprived and his career dried up.
With this Storytellers album, Billy and Steve prove that what they had previously crafted wasn't just about fluff and image. It was real music with real emotion behind it.
They're the same songs we knew and loved (and still do), but they're much more acoustic here (for VH1 Storytellers show). Rebel Yell is not the stadium song it usually is. Eyes without a Face is even more achingly painful. Catch My Fall is emotional with a bit of a rockabilly twist to it. You get the picture.
Left to deliver his music without his stage antics (and hopefully sober - come on Billy we're nuts about you - get off the drugs), Billy proves that he was and is a real talent.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great Set Of Idol's Best Works., May 8, 2002

By 

Mr. Fellini "Fellini" (Orange County, California United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: VH-1 Storytellers (Audio CD)

Billy Idol, one of the great rockers from the 80s gets the VH1 treatment here. "Storytellers" is a fresh take on Idol's best songs and there are truly exhilarating moments. The acoustic version of "Rebel Yell" is excellent, incredibly well-played and sung. Those who have come down on it being changed to acoustic obviously lack a good melodic sense. "White Wedding" remains an interestingly emotional, deep yet hard-edged song. My favorite moment was the closing track, a treat which is a cover of The Doors' "L.A. Woman." It is explosive, dirty and exhilarating, superior to the original album version. It actually does Jim Morrison some justice. Overall it is a great showcasing of Idol's talent as a singer and his band's overall incredible skills with the instruments they play.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Billy Show's 'Em How It's Done!, August 11, 2002

By 

"The Woj" (Downers Grove, IL) - See all my reviews

This review is from: VH-1 Storytellers (Audio CD)

With Steve Stevens back on guitar this album builds to a climax that flat-out rocks concluding with "Mony Mony" & a great cover of the Door's "LA Woman". The songs sound as fresh now as the did almost 20 years ago. Billy Idol is one of the few singers who combines good ole' 50's Eddie Cochran-Gene Vincent era rock and roll, 70's punk, and hard rock. Write off Billy as an MTV cartoon character, but he has more balls and a better voice than any other singer from that era. Billy's ace in the hole is Steven's guitar. He rips thru the Gen X classic "Ready Steady Go" and the acoustic playing on "Cradle Of Love" is killer 50's style Hank Marvin or James Burton.
A must.