Gordon Lightfoot - All Live CD

All Live album for sale Those who find the pairing of '70s rock god Robert Plant with contemporary bluegrass queen Alison Krauss unlikely have probably not been paying attention to Plant's latter-day work, which is full of intimate, acoustic-flavored balladry. While the organic-sounding, low-key Plant/Krauss collaboration, RAISING SAND, is a far cry from Led Zeppelin's stadium rock, it offers up some hauntingly moody textures that should appeal to "Battle of Evermore" admirers. Consisting mostly of sagely chosen cover tunes, the album finds Plant and Krauss bringing their warm-but-eerie harmonies to everything from Townes Van Zandt's nihilistic folk poetry ("Nothin'") to the crumbled beauty of latter-day Tom Waits ("Trampled Rose"). Determined not to rest on their laurels or cater to expectations, the 59-year-old icon and his junior partner craft a subtle and intriguing sound built on their shared love of folk forms and gift for interpretation, bringing to light esoteric gems by late Byrds visionary Gene Clark and the Everly Brothers along the way as well.

All Live buy CD music Bonnie Raitt stepped back from her career as a musician following 2005's Souls Alike as she dealt with the passing of her parents, her brother, and her best friend in succession, but she's now returned renewed and focused with her first studio album in seven years, Slipstream, released on her own new Redwing label imprint. Recording information: Ocean Way Studios, Hollywood, CA (2010-2011); The Garfield House Studio, South Pasadena, CA (2010-2011); Ocean Way Studios, Hollywood, CA (2011); The Garfield House Studio, South Pasadena, CA (2011). Photographers: Norman Moore; Matt Mindlin. Personnel: Manny Alvarez. Audio Mixer: Ryan Freeland.

All Live CD music Take note that this 2011 double-disc collection is billed not as the best of Bob Seger, it's the best of Bob Seger & the Silver Bullet Band -- a rule the compilers immediately bend in two directions by including the Bob Seger System's 1968 debut single "Ramblin' Gamblin' Man" (in its mono mix, collectors note) and "Wait for Me" from Seger's 2006 comeback Face the Promise. Along with two unreleased cuts -- a reworking of Little Richard's "Hey Hey Hey Hey" subtitled "Going Back to Birmingham" and originally cut in 1989, a perfectly fine cover that's overshadowed by the first release of Seger's version of Tom Waits' "Downtown Train," which he scrapped after Rod Stewart had a hit with a suspiciously similar arrangement -- and "Katmandu," a cut from 1975's Beautiful Loser that rightly gets grandfathered into the prime of the Silver Bullet Band, those are the only songs cut outside of Seger's golden decade of 1976-1987. Much of Seger's previous two hits collections is repeated here -- all but three of the 14 songs from 1994's Greatest Hits (two of the absent numbers are naturally the comp's newly recorded bonus cuts) and half of the 16 tunes from 2003's Greatest Hits, Vol. 2 are here -- and while there are certainly strong songs missing, whether it's "Sunspot Baby" or "Understanding," this has all the giant hits in a tidy, thoroughly entertaining package. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine Recording information: A&M Recording Studios, Los Angeles, CA (10/06/1980); Ambience Recording, Farmington Hills, MI (10/06/1980); Bayshore Studios, Coconut Grove, FL (10/06/1980); Boston Garden, Boston, MA (10/06/1980); Cherokee Studios, Hollywood, CA (10/06/1980); Cobo Hall, Detroit, MI (10/06/1980); Criteria Studios, Miami, FL (10/06/1980); Muscle Shoals Sound Studios, Sheffield, AL (10/06/1980); Nimbus Nine Studios, Toronto, Ontario (10/06/1980); Oasis Studios, Los Angeles, CA (10/06/1980); Pampa Sound Studios, Detroit, MI (10/06/1980); Studio 55, Hollywood, CA (10/06/1980); United Sound Systems, Detroit, MI (10/06/1980).

All Live songs United by dalliances with purism as young men and an abiding love of classic blues and jazz, Eric Clapton and Wynton Marsalis are a more comfortable fit than it may initially seem. Both musicians are synthesists, not innovators, stitching together elements from their idols in an attempt to preserve the past while bringing it into the present, so their sensibilities are aligned and, in 2011, they're amenable to a partnership that explores their common ground. So, Clapton and Marsalis held a series of concerts at New York City's Jazz at Lincoln Center in April of 2011, the guitarist selecting the songs (apart from "Layla," performed upon the request of bassist Carlos Henriquez), the trumpeter picking the band and working up the arrangements, using King Oliver's Creole Jazz Band as his template yet finding room for piano and, of course, guitar. Clapton's choice of songs leans heavily toward the '20s -- so much so that the dip into postwar electric blues via Howlin' Wolf's "Forty Four" feels a bit of a shock -- and the arrangements are faithful to classic New Orleans jazz yet loose, never quite hidebound to tradition and finding plenty of space for every one of the players to roam; Clapton and Marsalis surely solo plenty, but so do trombonist Chris Crenshaw, clarinetist Victor Goines, and pianist Dan Nimmer. There's not much ego on display -- even the inclusion of "Layla" doesn't feel forced, thanks to Marsalis' inventive New Orleans funeral arrangement of this overly familiar tune -- but the joy is palpable and the chemistry natural. Compared to Wynton's duet albums with Willie Nelson, this is both more traditional and riskier, and compared to Clapton's latter-day duets with B.B. King and J.J. Cale, this finds the guitarist none too deferential. These are consummate musicians united by playing music they love, and their passion resonates so strongly it's hard not to enjoy Clapton and Marsalis playing the blues. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine New York City's premier jazz venue got the blues last April when Wynton Marsalis and Eric Clapton performed together in Rose Theater at Frederick P. Rose Hall, home of Jazz at Lincoln Center for two sold-out shows dedicated to vintage blues. The extraordinary collaboration, billed as Wynton Marsalis & Eric Clapton Play the Blues, paired these musical virtuosos with members of the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra as they brought to life a repertoire of songs selected by Clapton and arranged by Marsalis. This CD/DVD combo features selections taken from the two public concerts (April 8-9), as well a special performance for Jazz at Lincoln Center's annual gala (April 7). Wynton Marsalis & Eric Clapton Play The Blues - Live From Jazz At Lincoln Center. Liner Note Author: Wynton Marsalis. Recording information: Jazz At Lincoln Center, New York, NY; World Alert Music, New York, NY. Director: Martyn Atkins. Editor: Fernando Villena. Photographers: Julie Skarratt; Danny Clinch. Arranger: Wynton Marsalis. Personnel: Eric Clapton (vocals, guitar); Wynton Marsalis (vocals, trumpet); Chris Crenshaw (vocals, trombone); Don Vappie (banjo); Victor Goines (clarinet); Marcus Printup (trumpet); Dan Nimmer (piano); Chris Stainton (keyboards); Ali Jackson Jr. (drums). Audio Mixer: Jeff Jones "the Jedi Master".

All Live CD music Digitally remastered CD edition of this 1979 live album from Southern rockers Atlanta Rhythm Section which showed the world the power that ARS could bring to a live performance. Following the band's biggest album chart success in 1978 with Champagne Jam, which was the breakthrough album for ARS, Are You Ready! made #51 in the US charts. ARS have been part of the Southern Rock scene for more than 30 years and with 15 albums of outstanding songwriting and performances, they represent all the good things the phrase 'classic rock' implies. . Beat Goes On. Audio Mixer: Rodney Mills. Audio Remasterer: Andrew Thompson . Liner Note Author: Campbell Devine. Photographers: Rick Diamond; Sam Emerson; Mike McCarty.

All Live buy CD music You've got to be a Johnny Cash fan to truly appreciate what's happening on the third volume in Legacy's Bootleg series Live Around the World. This double-disc collection contains 53 tracks culled from 23 years, 1956 to 1979. The heart of its performances are from the Newport Folk Festival in 1964; a show for the troops in Long Binh, Vietnam in 1969; for Richard Nixon at the White House in 1970, and at the Osteraker Prison in Sweden in 1972. The sound varies in quality but the selection is stellar. The disc starts with songs from his earliest days at the Big "D" Jamboree in Dallas (with the Perkins Brothers), with Cash playing early versions of "I Walk the Line" and "Get Rhythm." The nervousness in the former tune is notable: Cash hums between verses to make sure he's on pitch. Three years later, he was imbuing his song choices with authority, even as he presented himself with humility to his audience. His version of "Cotton Fields" sounds like the taste of bitter memory more than of longing nostalgia. From the Newport gig (introduced by Pete Seeger), Cash is without drums but has plenty of electric guitar. The version of "Folsom Prison Blues" is one of the best on record. Cash introduces "Don't Think Twice It's Alright" with a hearty endorsement of Bob Dylan. The Vietnam show is all audience requests, performed when Cash had pneumonia. There are killer renditions of "Cocaine Blues," and "Jackson" in duet with with June Carter Cash. Disc two begins with a long, patronizing introduction by Nixon. Cash rises to the occasion without condescending to the audience by playing his then-current hit ("A Boy Named Sue"), his own "Five Feet High and Risin'," and Leon Payne's "Lumberjack" before launching into a set of country-gospel tunes backed by his band, the Carter Family, and the Statler Brothers. The prison gig in Sweden has him delivering a knock-out, uptempo take of Kris Kristofferson's "Sunday Morning Comin' Down" and a devastating read of the traditional "The Prisoner's Song," with a moving spoken intro. Playing Steve Goodman's "City of New Orleans" for a Columbia Records' convention, and the closing, honky tonk, piano-driven read of Billy Joe Shaver's "I'm Just an Old Chunk of Coal," from the Nashville Inn in 1979, underscore who and what Cash is: a free and egalitarian citizen and keeper of American song's flame. From folk to country, from past to present, his complex persona exemplifies his rare ability to stand and deliver to every audience, not only in the way they wanted him to but also, perhaps, in the way the needed him to. Bootleg, Vol. 3 showcases what we already know (intellectually, at least) about Cash in a very emotional and visceral way. ~ Thom Jurek Liner Note Author: Dave Marsh . Editors: Robert Johnson Lee ; Joe Lee . Photographers: Don Hunstein; Sandy Speiser; John Hamilton; JT Phillips; Leon Kagarise. Personnel: Robert Johnson Lee , Joe Lee (programming). Audio Mixers: Robert Johnson Lee ; Joe Lee .