Amigo

Arlo Guthrie

Product Details

• Audio CD (February 28, 1994)
• Original Release Date: 1976
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Rising Son
• ASIN: B0000030NA
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Audio Cassette
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #74,349 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com
Why the pieces of Arlo Guthrie's erratic career came together on this record is no mystery. Producer John Pilla rounded up some of L.A.'s most gifted studio players--Russ Kunkel, Waddy Watchel, and Bob Blaub--and then provided a sound every bit as lyrical and earthy as Arlo's originals, his strongest to date. "Darkest Hour" sounds like a great, missing Blonde on Blonde track; "Victor Jara," with its chorus of "His hands were gentle, his hands were strong," is Arlo's only protest song to live up to his father's work; and "Massachusetts" is sweeping and gorgeous. Arlo's best record, an overlooked '70s classic. --Roy Francis Kasten

Product Description
"Amigo" was recorded in North Hollywood in July of 1976. Amigo was the name of the recording studio and the record was named to honor the great musicians and talented crew who worked on the project. Arlo and family along with producer John Pilla moved into a house nearby and spent about 2 months recording and mixing the tracks. It was a very happy time, as Annie, Arlo & Jackie's third child was born during the recording. Arlo, John and co-producer, Lenny Waronker had worked together on all the recordings starting with "Running Down The Road" each record improving and evolving - With "Amigo" they really hit their stride.

Great musicians, great engineering, great songs, all converging at a good and happy time make this recording what it is.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An Incredible, Vastly Under-Rated Guthrie Masterpiece!, July 9, 2000

By	Barron Laycock "Labradorman" (Temple, New Hampshire United States) - See all my reviews (TOP 50 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Amigo (Audio CD)

I am often stunned to find how few people have ever listened to this wonderful album by Arlo Guthrie. Unlike any of his earlier work, which I also enjoy and listen to still quite often, this one work shows the incredible talent, diversity and intelligence of this sometimes slapstick and even vaudevillian singer. Arlo really is one of a kind, a true artist who often covers sour subjects with a sugary satirical style, thus making these bitter pills about life more tolerable and acceptable to discuss and think about.

Here our perpetually young and impish Mr. Guthrie is in full adult form, mature but still sporting a twinkle in his eyes, from the silly and engaging opener "Guabi Guabi" (anyone listening to it just about has to laugh at it, yet it is surprisingly durable and deceptively simple; you may find yourself humming or singing it involuntarily next time you're in the shower and feeling pretty good about the world) to the haunting "Darkest Hours" to the lovely ballad "Massachusetts" about his adopted state, to a plaintive "Manzanillo Bay" about that unspoiled seaside Mexican paradise, and a host of others, many of them off-beat and more than incidentally political, like "Victor Jara" and "Patriot's Dream".

This is indeed a quite under-appreciated and very special album by someone often assumed to be a lightweight because of his inordinate success with novelty songs like "Alice's Restaurant" and "The Motorcycle Song". Yet anyone familiar with Guthrie the man and his continuing good works in rural western Massachusetts as a sort of self-appointed one-man project on helping those in need, he is obviously much more than that, and anyone taking a close listen to this album will discover the true depths of his quite considerable singing and songwriting talents as well. Enjoy.

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Arlo's Best!, March 19, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Amigo (Audio CD)

"Alice's Restaurant" may be better known, "Hobo's Lullabye" with its hit single "City Of New Orleans" may have been a bigger seller, but "Amigo" just might be the best album/CD in Arlo Guthrie's impressive body of work. There is not a bad song on it. Not even a mediocre one. Every song, every performance is a gem. Check out the gorgeous lyricism of "Darkest Hour", the elegant "Massachusetts". Then there's "Victor Jara" the heart-reding and incisive tribute to the legendary Chilean musician. The atmospheric "Manzanillo Bay", the rocking and rollicking Stones cover "Connection". The infectious "Walking Song". If you choose only one Arlo Guthrie CD for your collection (though you should get them all), choose this one.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The indications of growth are there..., October 11, 2005

By	James E. Duckworth "oahu-street" (Clinton, MD United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

...in his earlier '70s albums, but with Amigo, Arlo Guthrie entered the songwriting pantheon with the big boys. His songs here are as good as anything his big influence, Bob Dylan, had written up to that point (listen to "Victor Jara" and tell me that it's not better than Dylan's "Hurricane" from the same time period), his political sensibilities would have made his father proud, his sense of humor is still delightfully intact and his choice of cover tunes shows some real imagination.

Hard to say which songs I like best here--"Guabi Guabi" is unbelievably stupid but I love it! "Darkest Hour," "Massachusetts," "Ocean Crossing" and "Grocery Blues" are all wonderful. So too, is his cover of the Rolling Stones' "Connection," with Linda Ronstadt singing background on it.