Live As I'll Ever Be [LIVE]

Chris Smither

Product Details

• Audio CD (July 18, 2000)
• Original Release Date: July 18, 2000
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Live
• Label: Hightone Records
• ASIN: B00004U02M
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars See all reviews (19 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #87,717 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com
The accomplished Smither, after 30-odd years of performing and recording, has carved out a distinctive musicality and a close relationship with his audience. This live record makes letter-perfect use of both attributes. A far cry from 1999's excellent but instrumentally diverse Drive You Home Again, this is a spare, intimate recording featuring just guitar and voice. But what a guitar, and oh, what a voice. Gravelly, light, and tuneful, with a plaintive nasal pinch that bleeds wisdom and salvation, he rhymes his storylike lyrics around effortless guitar twangs and a simple tap meter, entertaining very lucky and appreciative live audiences with guile and an astute sense of observation. Songs like "Cave Man," from 1997's Small Revelations, find an easy soulfulness in their unadorned settings, and show off just how skilled Smither's songwriting has become. Other tunes leave an endearing impression of hopeful whimsy, as tracks like "Winsome Smile" trace a lover's almost pathological grip on his precious melancholy. Smither's deserved popularity has landed him in larger and larger venues for the last several years, but this disc reveals the musician's heart is still grounded in those intimate coffeehouses, bars, and sidewalk cafés, where acoustic songcraft has always flourished. --Matthew Cooke

Product Description
Live compilation for the blues revival, guitarist, singer/songwriter, recorded over a period of four years, includes 14 tracks from 8 different shows. Smither's songs have been covered by such artists as Bonnie Raitt. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

32 of 32 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars the man with the blue guitar, July 24, 2000

By	R. Hutchinson "autonomeus" (a world ruled by fossil fuels and fossil minds) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

Chris Smither live is amazing. Just one guy with an acoustic guitar, apparently. But the way he plays that guitar! Over many years he has honed a truly accomplished folk-blues style that has more density than many bands I've heard. Plus, you notice that board under his feet? He pounds out a rhythm with both feet, adding drums! Of course his songwriting is up there with the best, and his singing is intense and affecting. And funny? He had the crowd cracking up between songs just about every time when I heard/saw him at Utah State in Logan last fall.

This album is the next best thing to Smither live. It also brings together a great sample of his recent work, pointing the listener to his series of Nineties Hightone albums (my favorite is UP ON THE LOWDOWN -- see my review -- and HAPPIER BLUE is marred by synthesizers). What do you miss from his live show? The stories, for one. You get one, just a taste, the story of the New Orleans produce man. You also miss some of his great covers -- Lowell George's "Rock and Roll Doctor," and John Hiatt's "Memphis in the Meantime."

So check out this awesome live album, and go see/hear him live the next time he's within 100 miles of you!

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars THE BEST LIVE SOLO ACT AROUND, March 20, 2001

By	Patrick Earley (Edmond, Oklahoma USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

You really haven't heard Chris Smither until you've heard him live. He's simply an amazing artist, and one of the best solo acts performing today. The best way to describe his music is it pretty much straddles the fence between folk and blues. All done with acoustic guitars and his two tapping feet he uses as a rhythm section. Believe me when I say, this is all this guy needs. He is a full sounding one man band. Some of my favorite songs off this album are the bluesy "LINK OF CHAIN" and "CAN'T SHAKE THESE BLUES", along with "UP ON THE LOWDOWN", and one of his best songs "I AM THE RIDE". All these songs come from his studio album "UP ON THE LOWDOWN", which I'm partial to because he had a cd release party for this album the night he came through Oklahoma City back in 1995. I got to hear all these songs for the first time in a live setting, which made it that much more special. There was a lot of electricity in the air that night, and that was a concert I will not soon forget. Smither came through the city again in 1996 for the Oklahoma City Bombing Memorial Concert. Although it was a sad ocassion, when Chris Smither came on that big stage with just him and his guitar, he played the most inspirational set of any of the big name acts that appeared that night. And it made everybody who walked out of the Civic Center Music Hall that night, feeling a little bit better about everything. Everyone should get to see Chris Smither live at least once in their lives. In the meantime, I highly recommend getting this new "live" cd. This guy is a great songwriter, and there isn't a bad tune on here. And it's the next best thing to seeing him live.

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars You Need This CD...., January 21, 2001

By	"anarisse" (Wichita, KS USA) - See all my reviews

I first heard Chris Smither in concert in Boston's Symphony Hall in '73 when he opened for Doc Watson. Brash and talented and shaking his long blond hair with rock star panache. I think Bonnie Raitt had just recorded Chris' "Love You Like A Man". Been a fan ever since, have all the old LPs.

I saw Chris 2 years ago in a small venue in South Carolina. The long blond hair has turned dark, and the cockiness has given way to quiet confidence.The audience was small, but it didn't faze him, and I heard one of the best shows of my life. He comes across as being humble and appreciative of his fans. The writing wears the badge of life's experiences, good and bad. It's lean, tough, wry, and descriptive. He is an awesome talent in his guitar playing, writing, and singing. My favorite cuts are "No Love Today", and "Small Revelations". The latter has the lyric "Hearing is letting it happen, but to listen's a work of will/Beware of cheap imitations/ Thankful for small revelations". I'm a songwriter - and I would kill for a line like that.

There is not a bad song on the CD, and it's worth the price just to hear Chris do the intro to "No Love Today". I spend a lot of time in my car, and "Live As I'll Ever Be" has been in rotation for at least 8 months. You just don't get tired of it. If I could just figure out how he's playing Small Revelations....