Cheap Live Wire (Music) (Steve Goodman) Price

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Customer Reviews of Live Wire

Hot Damn!
I have been praying (and pleading) that this concert would be released. One hot summer night about 17 years ago, WHFS re-aired this concert just as I was pulling up to my rundown Baltimore rowhouse. Before the first chorus was over, I was racing up the stairs to start up my tape recorder. I played that tape into dust and fell in love with this performance and this lyric and funny man. Steve Goodman is great and "Live Wire" is Steve at his greatest.

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Cool!
Sometimes releases like this are a drag. They come up with the dregs that they somehow missed before. Some of the other Steve Goodman live CDs have been a little uneven. I thought Live Wire was solid, consistent, and a great addition to the Goodman library. I'd never heard some of these before. It was a lot of fun!

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Live Wire is more than just another CD
What makes Live Wire different than any of the previously released live recordings of Steve's is that this recording is of one Concert on one night. The Easter Tapes was drawn from the 3 different radio broadcasts over a span of three years. Live Wire is from one concert at the Bayou Theater.

What's more, the concert was with a complete back up band, complete with drums, electric guitar, piano, other percussions, and horns.

Among the best cuts on the CD are the opener which is "You're the Girl I Love", a love ballad that Steve wrote for his wife Nancy. Probably the second best song is "The One That Got Away" which is a duet with Amy Madigan. (yes the Amy Madigan who went on to star on both Televsion and the Movies)

Other songs of special note are "Men Who Love Women Who Love Men" and "Crazy Mary". This is the only commercially available release of "Crazy Mary", a Michael Smith song. As for "Men Who Love Women", this is the best version available anywhere and it is performed the way it should be, that is live.

While it is true, City of New Orleans is available elsewhere, this is one of the few versions that has Steve playing lead guitar and the only one where he is backed up by a band and playing lead. Combine that with the band introduction and the expanded instrument solos and you have a rollicking good time.

Of special note is the fact that this CD is one of the few to spotlight some of Steve later classics such as "Luxury's Lap", and "Hand it To You" Listening to the live versions will help you in gaining insight on the albums that they first appeared on.

Of course there are some draw backs to the CD, and these come mainly from production value. The CD is mastered from a recording made almost 20 years ago. Despite this flaw, Steve's voice more than makes up for the "time warp" of technology and once he gets singing live, even if it is just a CD, he still has the ability to capture an audience and hold it for as long as he wants to. Even moreso, despite being almost 20 years old, the sound is crisp, the instrumentation is clear and the vocals ring true.

Hopefully more lost recordings will surface and Red Pajamas will find this new venture profitable enough to continue treating Goodman fans as well as making a few new ones along the way.

Did I forget to mention the "Roches" on Tossin' and Turnin'? A damn good version of old classic.

All we now, is a Live CD with Steve and Jethro Burns.