|
JACKSON BROWNE & DAVID LINDLEY : LOVE IS STRANGE - EN VIVO CON TINO |
|
Disc One (49:15)
Disc Two (57:19)
Label : Inside Recordings Venues : Galileo Galilei, Madrid + Teatro Campoamor, Oviedo + Sala Santana 27, Bilbao + History Center Backyard, Zaragoza + Palau de la Música, Barcelona, Spain Recording Dates : March 9-22, 2006 Release Date : May 11, 2010 Review (AllMusic) : Love Is Strange: En Vivo con Tino is, simply put, a double CD that documents Jackson Browne's and David Lindley's short Spanish tour of 2006. But it's actually far more than that. While the song titles may be familiar to fans of both men, they don't begin to tell the musical story on display here. Lindley and Browne were accompanied on all dates by the great flamenco percussionist, rock drummer, and producer Tino di Geraldo, and on select concerts by well-known Spanish musicians flutist Carlos Nunéz, vocalists Kiko Veneno and Luz Casal, banduria player Javier Mas, and others. Beautifully recorded, this set shows what Browne is capable of when he has musical foils who will not allow him to simply rest on his laurels. Lindley is, as expected, brilliant in shaping the textures and surfaces of these songs as well as highlighting the more subtle melodic touches in them, and Di Geraldo's rhythmic interactions push these two to play at their level best. The interplay between him and Lindley is near symbiotic, even on the most basic of tunes like "Mercury Blues" or "For Taking the Trouble," where the percussionist plays tablas to Lindley's bouzouki. The Latinization of "El Rayo X," with Browne on a baritone guitar and stellar harmony vocals by Lindley is a high point. Lindley plays fiddle on "Take It Easy," and transforms it into something that envisions a Spanish bluegrass. "These Days," with Casal's heavily accented guest vocal, the fiddle, and di Geraldo's cajón, makes an already beautiful song exquisite. Lindley's Hawaiian guitar transforms "Running on Empty" from its former place as a rock anthem to '70s-era alienation into a haunted warning filled with regret and loss. A full-band performance of the nine-minute closer "The Next You Voice You Hear," featuring Veneno on duet vocals, also includes the cajón, tres player Raul Rodriguez, Hawaiian guitar, Charlie Cepeda on baritone guitar, and Nunéz's whistle. It becomes a dry, arid, funky blues that sends the whole package off on a soaring though lonesome note. This could have been an experiment that failed miserably, drenched in nostalgia and excess; instead, it succeeds grandly because of a sparse, tasteful approach with excellent arrangements and genuinely inspired performances. Review (Wikipedia) : Love Is Strange: En Vivo Con Tino is the fourth live album by American singer-songwriter Jackson Browne, and 16th official studio or live album. A 2-CD live set released on the Inside Recordings label in 2010, the album documents a March 2006 tour of Spain that Browne and David Lindley took part in with Spanish percussionist Tino di Geraldo. The seven shows of the tour in Spain were followed by four in the United Kingdom. The album preserves performances by guest Spanish musicians flutist Carlos Núñez, vocalists Kiko Veneno and Luz Casal, and banduria player Javier Mas. Some songs have introductions spoken by Browne in Spanish. The album won at the 2011 Independent Music Awards in the Live Performance Album category, and was nominated for a 2011 Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Folk Album. It peaked at No. 46 on the Billboard 200 albums chart and No. 1 on the Billboard Magazine Folk Albums chart. It reached No. 17 on Billboard's Rock Albums chart and No. 5 on Billboard's Independent Albums chart. In the liner notes to the album, Browne wrote that the 2006 tour of Spain was the idea of Paco Pérez Bryan, who suggested Browne bring Lindley, who has toured off and on with Browne for almost 40 years and has recorded off and on with him since 1973's For Everyman. The tour dates were March 9 and 10, 2006, in Madrid, Spain at Galileo Galilei, March 11, 2006 in Oviedo, Spain at Teatro Campoamor, March 16, 2006 in Bilbao, Spain at Sala Santana 27, March 17, 2006 in Palma de Mallorca, Spain at Auditorium de Palma De Mallorca, March 18, 2006 in Zaragoza, Spain at History Center Backyard, and March 22, 2006 in Barcelona, Spain at Palau de la Música. No recordings were made from the show at Palma de Mallorca because of difficulties transporting the recording equipment, according to Browne. Reception Professional ratings Review scores Source Rating Allmusic 4/5 stars Robert Christgau (dud) Rolling Stone 3.5/5 stars Uncut 4/5 stars. In his review for Allmusic Thom Jurek wrote that the album "could have been an experiment that failed miserably, drenched in nostalgia and excess; instead, it succeeds grandly because of a sparse, tasteful approach with excellent arrangements and genuinely inspired performances." He also wrote: "beautifully recorded, this set shows what Browne is capable of when he has musical foils who will not allow him to simply rest on his laurels." Rolling Stone rated the album three and a half out of five stars. Music critic Will Hermes said the album is "an album to please fans who didn't follow Jackson Browne on his Eighties detour into fight-the-power songs." Commenting on the performances, he wrote: "Browne's voice has barely aged, and Lindley's liquid slide is exquisite; versions often rival the originals." For Uncut Magazine, Bud Scoppa, who reviewed Browne's debut album in 1972 for Rolling Stone, noted that "several of the songs Browne chose to revisit are from records on which Lindley didn't appear, enabling the onetime partners to see what they could bring to the more recent material in tandem. The resulting performances are less renderings than transformations." Browne, "with a crucial assist from Lindley, ... fluidly unifies his entire body of work." |