I’m still in the mood to listen to live performances on CD that I’ve had on my shelves for decades. VH-1 Presents Donna Summer Live & More Encore! came out in 1999. I bought it and never listened to it until last week. This live CD presents most of the Donna Summer hits like “She Works Hard for the Money” and “Bad Girls.” Some people hate her rendition of “MacArthur Park” but I think it’s okay. The final song, “I Will Go With You (Con Te Partiro)” sounds a lot like “Time To Say Good-bye” to me. If you’re a Donna Summer fan, you’ll enjoy this concert version of her hits. GRADE: B
TRACK LIST:
| MacArthur Park | 6:38 | ||
| This Time I Know It’s For Real | 3:12 | ||
| I Feel Love | 3:50 | ||
| On The Radio | 4:29 | ||
| No More Tears (Enough Is Enough) | 4:21 | ||
| Dim All The Lights | 6:03 | ||
| She Works Hard For The Money | 4:31 | ||
| Bad Girls | 3:06 | ||
| Hot Stuff | 4:19 | ||
| My Life | 5:58 | ||
| Last Dance | 7:08 | ||
| Love Is The Healer | 3:23 | ||
| I Will Go WIth You (Con Te Partiró) | 4:10 |
Diane loves Carole King and James Taylor which explains why I bought Carole King & James Taylor at the Troubadour. But, for some unknown reason, the CD/DVD set from 2010 remained unopened until last week. There’s some overlap with songs on both the CD and DVD. I tend to like Carole King’s songs better than James Taylor’s songs, but the two artists seem to be having a good time singing together. GRADE: B+
TRACK LIST:
| CD-1 | Blossom Written-By – James Taylor | 3:09 | |
| CD-2 | So Far Away Written-By – Carole King | 4:42 | |
| CD-3 | Machine Gun Kelly Written-By – Danny Kortchmar | 3:00 | |
| CD-4 | Carolina In My Mind Written-By – James Taylor | 4:16 | |
| CD-5 | It’s Too Late Written-By – Carole King, Toni Stern | 4:59 | |
| CD-6 | Smackwater Jack Written-By – Gerry Goffin-Carole King | 5:25 | |
| CD-7 | Something In The Way She Moves Written-By – James Taylor | 4:04 | |
| CD-8 | Will You Love Me Tomorrow Written-By – Gerry Goffin-Carole King | 4:13 | |
| CD-9 | Country Road Written-By – James Taylor | 3:49 | |
| CD-10 | Fire And Rain Written-By – James Taylor | 5:45 | |
| CD-11 | Sweet Baby James Written-By – James Taylor | 3:35 | |
| CD-12 | I Feel The Earth Move Written-By – Carole King | 4:05 | |
| CD-13 | You’ve Got A Friend Written-By – Carole King | 5:52 | |
| CD-14 | Up On The Roof Written-By – Gerry Goffin-Carole King | 4:09 | |
| CD-15 | You Can Close Your Eyes Written-By – James Taylor | 2:49 | |
| DVD-1 | Intro | ||
| DVD-2 | Blossom | ||
| DVD-3 | So Far Away | ||
| DVD-4 | Machine Gun Kelly | ||
| DVD-5 | Carolina In My Mind | ||
| DVD-6 | It’s Too Late | ||
| DVD-7 | Smackwater Jack | ||
| DVD-8 | Something In The Way She Moves | ||
| DVD-9 | Will You Love Me Tomorrow | ||
| DVD-10 | Country Road | ||
| DVD-11 | Fire And Rain | ||
| DVD-12 | Sweet Baby James | ||
| DVD-13 | I Feel The Earth Move | ||
| DVD-14 | You’ve Got A Friend | ||
| DVD-15 | Up On The Roof | ||
| DVD-16 | You Can Close Your Eyes | ||
| DVD-17 | Credits |
I’m sad to admit I’ve had Neil Young Unplugged since 1993. I have no credible reason for not listening to this CD (or the other dozen Neil Young CDs on my shelf) before now. Unlike the two other CDs in this blog post, this Neil Young CD is NOT a greatest hits compilation. Neil Young includes “Harvest Moon” and “Helpless” but many of his other song choices must be personal favorites. In this MTV concert, the vocals, the acoustic guitar, Young’s harmonica have never sounded better. GRADE: A
TRACK LIST:
| The Old Laughing Lady | 5:15 | ||
| Mr. Soul | 3:54 | ||
| World On A String | 3:02 | ||
| Pocahontas | 5:06 | ||
| Stringman | 4:01 | ||
| Like A Hurricane | 4:44 | ||
| The Needle And The Damage Done | 2:52 | ||
| Helpless | 5:48 | ||
| Harvest Moon | 5:20 | ||
| Transformer Man | 3:36 | ||
| Unknown Legend | 4:47 | ||
| Look Out For My Love | 5:57 | ||
| Long May You Run | 5:22 | ||
| From Hank To Hendrix | 5:51 |
I’d probably enjoy all three.
It might be the network in the house, but I doubt it…seems like Blogspot is down.
Happily, Blogspot and Google Groups which were out of touch (though, oddly, not GMail nor Google search) are now working apparently normally again. Amazon, too, was not reachable a few minutes ago.
Todd, when AMAZON goes down things are really Bad!
Todd, the extreme heat is causing network problems and outages. More to come during this Long Hot Summer.
I’d happily listen to all of these CDs. Donna Summer left us when she was far too young—she had an amazing range, but she sang in a marginalized & denigrated genre (Disco) and was often overlooked by “serious” music critics. By the way, I believe “Con Te Partiro” is “Time to Say Goodbye”, just the original Italian version. No one ever sang it like Andrea Bocelli—even Donna Summer.
Deb, I became a Donna Summer fan from the moment I heard “Love to Love You, Baby” back in 1975. Sadly, Donna Summer’s career sank when the Disco Era ended…and was demonized. You’re right, Donna Summer died too young. My Italian is non-existent so thanks for the translation of “Con Te Partiro.”
50/50 here. I have no interest in Donna Summer. And I find James Taylor verging on narcolepsy. I like Carole King but most of her songs are done better by the artists who had the hits with them, but she is still listenable. And I am a fan of Neil Young.
Steve, my mood for live CDs is just about over. I’ll be featuring something more to you tastes next week.
I was never a fan of Donna Summer (or disco), and the only one of the songs she’s famous for that I actually remember is “She Works Hard For the Money”. “MacArthur Park” is certainly a strange choice. I never actually liked the song, but it’s so off-the-wall weird that I could never bring myself to dislike it either.
Both King and Taylor are big favorites, and nearly everything on these CDs is familiar. It would be hard to say which of these two I like more. It’s been a while since I heard anything new or live by them. How are their voices holding up?
Young’s “Unplugged” is the only one of these I own, along with everything else he’s recorded, and I consider him to be the Great American Rocker, although it’s his gentle acoustic folkie side that most people seem familiar with. “Like a Hurricane” is the only one of his great rockers on “Unplugged”, but it sounds just fine in this version. There’s even one song here, the lovely “Stringman”, that doesn’t appear on any other album.
Michael, the King and Taylor performance was recorded in 2010 and their voices sound fine to me. If they were touring now, it might be a much different story. I was not aware that “Stringman” only appears on NEIL YOUNG UNPLUGGED. Good to know!
Canadian emigre, as you know, Michael.
I like Carole King, Neil Young, and Donna Summer and have CDs by all.
I used to like James Taylor until I read Carly Simon’s first autobiography. Now I can’t stand to watch him. What a smug SOB!
And, Michael, even though MacArthur Park routinely shows up on Worst Song lists, I love it. Who care what the Jimmy Webb lyrics mean? Richard Harris, Donna Summer … both are fine by me.
Beth, I’ve never understood the rabid hostility to “MacArthur Park.” I know a lot of people don’t like Jimmy Webb and his music. Others complain they can’t figure out what the lyric is all about. But, I’m with you on Richard Harris and Donna Summer. Both versions are fine by me, too.
Beth, I certainly didn’t mean to imply that I hated “Macarthur Park or that I thought it came close to being on a Worst Songs list. It’s far from being a favorite, but I do love its weirdness. As for Jimmy Webb, there are very few songs that I love more than “Wichita Lineman”.
Listen to Nick Cave doing By the Time I Get to Phoenix.
In the 70s after ending my studies and having started to work I listened to different music, more “stories” than just Rock – and I had enough money to buy records in the evenings after working in some big cities – including London.
So of course I bought Tapestry, still one of my favourite albums and many songs by Jimmy Webb without even knowing his name – like Galveston, Wichita Lineman etc performed by Glen Campbell.
Wolf, Jimmy Webb is a polarizing figure. While he has many fans and admirers, he has his critics and haters. Here is what Webb’s ex-wife had to say about Jimmy Webb’s autobiography THE CAKE AND THE RAIN:
Patsy Sullivan Webb
April 25, 2019 at 9:02 am
I am told Jimmy did not mention me in his memoir. I never read it but was contacted by many friends and journalists who found my omission startling and upsetting. Personally, I find it funny. Cutting out your 13 year old girlfriend and mother of your six children and wife of 22 years takes hutzpah!
I love Wichita Lineman too, Michael.
Jimmy Webb’s autobiography was another eye-opener. What a waste of a great talent! And I agree with you, Wolf; Glen Campbell was a good match for his songs.
Since I’m nerdy and really liked Richard Harris, I enjoyed his collaboration with Jimmy Webb as well.
Beth, I remember the first time I heard “MacArthur Park” sung by Richard Harris. There was nothing like it playing on the radio at that time!
Jackie wants to know how you found these after 10-20-30 years! Where were they hiding?
I’m not a big Donna Summer fan, but she is OK with me. My favorite may be “Hot Stuff” for the way they used it in THE FULL MONTY.
I like Carole King and James Taylor’s music. We saw them in concert together at Madison Square Garden – in the round as on the Troubadour thing – and enjoyed it. We’ve seen Taylor solo in concert several times, and occasionally he was quite engaged and very enjoyable. A couple of times, though, soporific would be my review. We’ve seen the Troubadour concert on DVD.
I love Neil Young, but no denying that he can be uneven. His GREENDALE concert was horrible. My favorites are AFTER THE GOLD RUSH and EVERYBODY KNOWS THIS IS NOWHERE with Crazy Horse. We’ve seen him in concert alone, and with Crosby, Stills & Nash. Jackie liked their anti-war concert during the W. years.
Jackie bought a lot of DVDs of live concerts. Some are way better than others.
As for the songs at hand, on the Summer I’d take Hot Stuff, On the Radio and Last Dance. Not a fan of MacArthur Park.
King and Taylor: King songs Up on the Roof (always a favorite), Will You Love Me Tomorrow, I Feel the Earth Move, It’s Too Late, You’ve Got a Friend.
I like a few of the Taylor songs (I prefer his NEVER DIE YOUNG album) but don’t love any.
Neil Young, Helpless, The Needle and the Damage Done, Like a Hurricane. But give me the AFTER THE GOLD RUSH songs.
Jeff, as you might remember, Diane and Katie think I’m a hoarder. I confess I have way too many books, CDs, and Blu-rays/DVDs. And, my organization of all this material is a work in progress. Tell Jackie that even though I listen to music every day, I still have a 1000 or so CDs waiting for me to hear them. My backlog of Blu-rays/DVDs runs to maybe a 100. Books…let’s not go there!
Jeff, I also saw the Greendale concert. Horrible. Lot of grumbling from the audience on that tour.
Here are the concert DVDs that Jackie has bought:
Fleetwood Mac, RUMOURS (more a “Making of” than a concert)
Dixie Chicks, Top of the World Tour LIVE
Rolling Stones, Hampton Coliseum (Live in 1981)
Queen, Rock Montreal & Live Aid
Santana, Supernatural Live
AN All-Star Tribute to Brian Wilson
Jimmy Buffett, Live at Wrigley Field (2 DVDs – Labor Day weekend, 2005)
Earth, Wind & Fire Live
John Fogerty, Comin’ Down the Road (Concert at Royal Albert Hall)
Eagles, Hell Freezes Over
The Dukes of September Live – Donald Fagen, Michael McDonald & Boz Scaggs (as seen on PBS)
Bee Gees, One for All Tour – Live in Australia 1989
Two more you should see:
A Celebration of Blues and Soul: The 1989 Presidential Inaugural Concert – this is the one put on by Lee AAtwater, with Stevie Ray Vaughan, Delbert McClinton, Albert Collins, Eddie Floyd, Carla Thomas, Bo Diddley, Willie Dixon, Dr. John, Percy Sledge, Sam Moore
From the Big Apple to the Big Easy: The Conncert for New Orleans (September 20, 2005, three weeks after Katrina). We were at this great Madison Square Garden concert (2 DVDs), with Dave Bartholomew, Jimmy Buffett, Elvis Costello, John Fogerty, Clarence “Frogman” Henry, Elton John, The Meters, The Neville Brothers, Allen Toussaint, Kermit Ruffins, Irma Thomas, Simon & Garfunkel, Buckwheat Zydeco, Cyndi Lauper, Dave Matthews and more. What a night!
Jeff, Jackie has excellent taste in concert DVDs! I own maybe 50% of the DVDs listed. The Carole King/James Taylor LIVE AT THE TROUBADOUR set comes with a DVD as well as a music CD.
My favorite concert CDs are Stop Making Sense (Talking Heads). and The Last Waltz.
I meant favorite DVDs.
Steve, excellent concert DVDs! THE LAST WALTZ just came out in a fabulous Criterion Collection version: http://georgekelley.org/the-last-waltz-criterion-collection/