Joe Bonamassa - Live from Nowhere in Particular
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Music CD Cover Artist: Joe Bonamassa Edition: Music CD Audio: English (Unknown) CD Release Date: 2008-08-19 Music Label: Premier Artists Soundtracks: Music CD 1
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| New | New Usually ships in 1-2 business days | $13.10 | ||
| Used | Used Usually ships in 1-2 business days | $9.91 |
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Free Music Notes for Live from Nowhere in Particular Album
Free Music Review: Underwhelming live release from a masterful guitarist
Hit: 2 Stars
First off, Joe Bonamassa is definitely one of my favorite current artists. I do own all of his releases. He is a world-class guitarist operating in a blues rock context similar to that of Rory Gallagher and early Eric Clapton, amoung others. Those are influences that appeal to my tastes and I was eagerly awaiting this release.
Based on his two prior single-disc live releases, the news of a two-disc set really whetted my appetite, I'd hoped that he'd take advantage of the freedom of the format and really let loose.
Joe's talent aside, and despite the other glowing reviews here, I find this to be a disappointing purchase on several fronts (in no particular order):
* Cover photo: Shot from the side, slightly from behind, hair obscuring his eye...I don't know what message this image is meant to convey, but it's not that of an artist connecting directly with his fans.
* Packaging: Thin, at best. No real reason to own the hard copy vs. just downloading it. There's no value add in the liner notes and the band members aren't even personally identified in the one publicity shot of the band.
* The title: Face it, "Live From Nowhere In Particular" sounds just like a toss-off and sums up this release right there. I simply expected more from an artist of Joe's calibre.
* Running time: This is the cd era - releasing a double live cd with run times in the mid-40 minutes and mid-50 minutes doesn't fill the time available on the disc, much less fulfill my expectations (it's Joe-I want as much of his music as I can get!).
* Song selection: India is a great song and the pairing with Mountain Time is a great idea...but a much better version of MT is on the recently released Shepherds Bush. The Just Got Paid medley also is much better/higher energy on Shepherds Bush. The ending cut of A New Day Yesterday/Starship Trooper/Wurm is very disappointing. I wholeheartedly applaud Joe's demonstration of love and respect for his influences, but the execution here just does nothing for me.
* Editing. The between song audience applause fades out after each song which, to me, totally detracts from the overall flow and feel of what I want from a live album.
Overall, I would highly recommend both his A New Day Yesterday Live and Shepherd's Bush as better live releases than this one. If you have those, there really isn't much reason to get this. Love ya', Joe, but this one is a bit of a misstep (or a contractual obligation that your heart really wasn't in?).