Townes Van Zandt - Live at the Old Quarter
|
Our Price: $99.98 Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $2.15 (click here) Category: Music CD See more new music releases 
|
|---|
Buy this Music CD at online store in your country
Canadian Music Store
Canadian Music Store
Free Music Notes for Live at the Old Quarter
Free Music Review: Timeless Piece of Music History
Hit: 5 Stars
Townes Van Zandt Live at the Old Quarter came to mind immediately when I saw Amazon's "Greatest One Hundred Albums of All Time," and noticed it's complete absence from the list. I own most of Amazon's top 15 albums and quite a few of the rest, and Live at the Old Quarter's no-show is more about Amazon's attempt to generate sales than to honestly rate live albums by those who know and love great music. This album has most likely caused more people to pick up a guitar or learn to fingerpick than any other. Townes' ability to connect with his audience comes across so well on this album. I have heard more Townes' shows than I can accurately count, and as hard as it may be to believe, many, particularly in the mid 80s around the time of the release of No Deeper Blue, were even better. After that time, a backslide into alcohol and substance abuse diminished his voice and instrumental skills, but he was still able to summon up his powers on ocassion, as was demonstrated by his powerful live endpiece Live at Union Chapel. For all the devotees of Live at the Old Quarter, we can only hope the tapes were rolling in the mid 80s, and that Townes' manager and wife can end their differences and work to make sure these sounds are not lost forever.Free Music Review: Extraordinary clarity and power from a increasingly forgotten singer
Hit: 5 Stars
Townes Van Zandt was not a singer that I had heard of, until just recently. He was another Texas singer, whose drinking and drugging kept his career from taking off and killed him in his early 50s. Another familiar sad story, increased in his case by mental trouble (maniac depression).
Except for one thing. My goodness, the man could sing and write songs! This album is absolutely extraordinary. It consists of almost nothing but Van Zandt's voice, singing over a very muted guitar. There is nothing here but the man and his songs. Very few musicians come across well in those circumstances.
Van Zandt, however, delivers a series of haunting songs, penetrating lyrics and beautiful melodies. This guy is the real deal, a song-writer who really is a poet and singer of beautiful, beautiful songs. His work should not be forgotten. In a very different way, he is another American original like J.J. Cale, an utterly extraordinary talent who lived out his life far from the music industry's hype.
Free Music Review: Total disbelief
Hit: 5 Stars
My reaction to this double album is total disbelief. Disbelief that it took me thirty years to find this, after encountering Townes van Zandt's songs through so many other musicians over the years. But more importantly, disbelief that the power of his performance riveted a rowdy, sweltering Houston barroom to pin-drop silence. What on earth was he doing, writing songs like that, going to places outside of time that few others can go?
Don't talk to me about 'unplugged' albums -- "Live at the Old Quarter" is the original, and probably the greatest one. It features Townes van Zandt in top form, performing a lifetime's worth of stellar songs, at the age of 29. His poetry set to music is original source material, seemingly channeled from a different and better place:
To live is to fly
All low and high
So shake the dust off of your wings
And the sleep out of your eyes
"Live at the Old Quarter" is a treasure trove and a masterpiece.
Free Music Review: Man, I never heard it that quiet in here before
Hit: 5 Stars
This is probably the only review I'll ever write.
I stumbled upon Townes through the Big Lebowski. We watched that movie ad nauseam my Junior year of college, and I found the closing track, "Dead Flowers", to be profoundly haunting. I bought this album sight unseen, and it was the greatest purchase I've ever made.
As a direct result of buying this album, I bought an acoustic guitar and learned to play most of these songs. I've shared it with those closest to me, and I went out of my way to visit Wrecks Bell at his (former) bar in Galveston.
Townes had an ability to put words together that was truly unique - no one has ever spoken to me like he has, before or since. This album captures him at his best: in a small, enthusiastic live acoustic setting. Just him, his guitar, and a crowd of maybe 40 listeners. I would kill to have been there.
This album has touched my life.
Free Music Review: Great Folk Singer
Hit: 5 Stars
I haven't listened to this since about 1985 which I had on an album and I was very glad to be able to purchase it on C.D. It has brought back some old memories and inspired me to play some more of his songs on guitar, some of which I learned from my guitar teacher when I was a teenager. I hope more people buy this and realize how good of an artist Townes Van Zandt is and know he is the person who wrote the song "Pancho and Lefty"- not Willie Nelson. Thanks Amazon for providing me the access to be able to get this recording again.