Live at 25 [LIVE]

Huey Lewis & the News

Product Details

• Audio CD (May 17, 2005)
• Original Release Date: May 17, 2005
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Live
• Label: Rhino / Wea
• ASIN: B0007Z9RAW
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #78,172 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

Track Listings

1. Heart of Rock & Roll

2. So Little Kindness

3. Thank You #19

4. I Want A New Drug/Small World

5. If This Is It

6. Power Of Love

7. Some of My Lies Are True

8. Do You Believe in Love

9. It's All Right

10. Bad Is Bad

11. Heart and Soul

12. But It's Allright

13. (Too) Hip to Be Square

14. We're Not Here For A Long Time (We're Here for a Good Time)

15. Back in Time

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

Huey Lewis and his clan of good-time San Francisco-based pop-rockers had a long run of scaling the charts in the '80s and '90s with unforgettable radio hits. Fusing '60s R&B, U.K. bar band vigor, and classic rock 'n' roll, their spirited sound netted a pair of #1 albums anda slew of signature songs. A quarter century after they formed, they're still going strong, and many of their biggest tracks get the band's always crowd-pleasing send-up on this cookin' live album recorded in concert on their Northern California home turf in December 2004.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Here For A Good Time, May 17, 2005

By	JOHN BRYSON "NewsHead" (Chicago, IL United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

So, what have Huey Lewis & the News been up to since their heyday - the days of their back to back monster albums Sports & Fore? (Sports & Fore! produced many of the band's most recognizable hits, including "Heart & Soul", "The Heart of Rock & Roll", "I Want A New Drug", "Stuck With You", "Jacob's Ladder", and "Hip To Be Square", among others.)

Huey & company have continued to produce quality music based in the great traditions of American rock and R & B, releasing fine albums like "Hard At Play", "Four Chords & Several Years Ago", and most recently, "Plan B". The News has shifted their style over the years away from great rock with a great hook to great R & B with a great hook. And that shift, along with the passing of time, has pushed the band away from the mainstream, appealing primarily now to a large core of die hards.

Huey Lewis has said for years that he has always wanted to release a live concert album, and for the first time today, he and the band have come through with a live CD spanning songs from their 25 year career.

The CD is stuffed with 16 tracks and the set list won't surprise the die-hard NewsHeads. The tracks are a well-chosen sample of the News' albums through the years. Following the band's live performances since 1983, one can tell there are certain songs that Huey likes, despite the fact that they are not commercially popular. Huey included a track from their self-titled debut and three songs from "Plan B", which were never heard by most listeners on commercial radio. And the songs that didn't make the cut include "Stuck With You", Huey's biggest hit ever (3 weeks at number 1) and "Jacob's Ladder", another top 5 smash. Like he has said in concert, so many hits, so little time...

The disc really captures the pacing and energy of a typical Huey Lewis show. Light on banter with the crowd, he begins with "The Heart of Rock & Roll", and starts to unwind a bit when introducing Johnny Colla's sax solo mid-song. And he really loosens up toward the end of the underappreciated soulful second song, "So Little Kindness", extending the end of the song well beyond the recorded version, begging, pleading for just a little kindness. At this point, he and the band are hitting their groove and the night is still very young.

After a smooth and soulful "Thank You #19", Huey & the boys kick into a traditional highlight, the guitar-driven "I Want A New Drug". In recent years, Huey has taken to jamming a shorter version of "Drug" and rolling into "Small World", which features some snappy riffs from the News Brothers horn section and nice keyboard work by Sean Hopper. It definitely works here.


A by-the-books version of "If This Is It" makes way for a rocking "Power of Love", featuring Stef Burns on guitar. A deftly reworked version of their first big hit, "Do You Believe In Love", is a pleasure and could hit the Adult Contemporary charts today if recorded in studio.

After the traditional accapella break, the band hits the accelerator and doesn't look back. The crowd-pleasing segment kicks off with a News classic, "Heart And Soul", jumps to the foot-stomping "But It's Alright", and spins into the slightly reworked crowd-pleaser "(Too) Hip To Be Square". Huey & the News don't let up here, kicking into their out-of-the-box classic from "Plan B", "We're Not Here For A Long Time", and finishing the hand-clapping set with a long-overlooked staple, "Back In Time". To finish the disc, Huey ends with one of his greatest sing-a-longs, "Doing It All For My Baby".

Throughout the show, Huey's voice retained it's patented gravelly quality, rough around the edges, for sure, but hasn't it always been that way? The band was tight as ever, the crowd was cheering and dancing, and a great American rock and roll band was captured doing what they do best. This is what they call "feel good" music. My only regret was that the disc had to end at 16 songs. So many hits, so little time, indeed...

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars So many hits, so little time . . . , May 17, 2005

By	Reggie Dwight (Boston) - See all my reviews

Boom-boom boom-boom boom-boom boom-boom . . . and there you are, in the heart of rock and roll and rhythm and blues. Huey Lewis has always been an upbeat force, but live is a separate dimension. Buy this record, crank it up, and experience the News in a whole new and always catchy way.

Good call on the "Drug/Small World" mix and a special edition of "Do You Believe In Love." And, really, is there any better closer than "Back In Time"? I don't think so. The band is in its usual snappy groove, and Mr. Lewis belts and purrs his sonic trademark straight into your soul. Yes, Huey, we're still with you.

Rilke wrote, "Music is closer to us, then; it streams toward us; we stand in its way, but then it goes right through us. It is almost like a higher air, we draw it into the lungs of spirit and it gives us a greater blood in the secret circulation." Breathe this record in, and curry favor by buying an extra copy for someone you like.

Geoff Cronin
Boston

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars GREAT GREAT CD, February 24, 2006

By	Hakeem Shabazz "Redtail" (Benicia, CA, USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I saw the video version on PBS. I was so excited about getting the CD. All the songs are fabulous. But, hey, afterall Huey Lewis and the News are fantastic. I rock out in my car with this CD.