Cheap Live in Berlin, Vol. 2 (Music) (The Lounge Lizards) Price

Related Products

Customer Reviews of Live in Berlin, Vol. 2

If you're gonna buy ONE of their live CDs...
This disc is more rich and varied than BIG HEART and has no weak cuts on it, unlike the OTHER Berlin live disc, which wastes a ton of time on a total throwaway, "Mr. Stinky's Blues." But be warned -- as I say in my review of the other Berlin disc -- the colors and numbers of these discs change occasionally. Sometimes 2 is 1, 1 is 2, and either can appear in red or black. I dunno why. Anyhow, this is live stuff from the period between VOICE OF CHUNK and QUEEN OF ALL EARS. "Tibet" is actually a VOICE OF CHUNK number under a different name, but I forget which. "A Paper Bag and the Sun," maybe.

---

Great Live Performance from the Lounge Lizards
Outstanding performance from the Lizards, with a bit more emphasis on percussion than you might be used to hearing from them. The tracks are fairly lengthy, giving each of the musicians a chance to "breathe" and come into the form a little more than they do on the studio albums. In the live albums, Lurie seems happy to stray from the sheet music, too -- so where the studio albums (particularly Queen of All Ears) are defined by their intricate structure, the structure of this life performance is a more difficult to spot, but shows no less skill or vibrance.

The most vivid track on the album is "Big Heart" -- Lurie and company turn this great song into an 11-minute jam that will have you up and jumping around like they do in the video. The review below by Keith Hunt is a little astonishing. He's apparently disappointed because this "jazz" doesn't have Rosemary Clooney. Here's fair warning: do not buy this album if you're looking for Rosemary Clooney or Tommy Dorsey. This is modern jazz, not swing -- but, it's not obtuse and inaccessible like, say Don Cherry or even Ornette Coleman. To the contrary, Lurie employs some odd tonalities that I don't completely understand, but heck, you can still dance to it.

I wouldn't recommend this as an introduction to the Lizards. Try Queen of All Ears or Voice of Chunk instead. But, once you're in their groove, check this one out.

As far as the recording of the live concert goes, let me just say that it sounds great, though the track divisions are somewhat arbitary (as if the people who made the divisions weren't really familiar with Lurie's music).

---

Don your beret, this is beatnick jazz...
I guess that you, dear listener, must consider the source when you seek the opinions of other listeners. I may not be the appropriate source to review this CD, but I'll give it my best shot.

While I admit to enjoying jazz music, I must add the condition that the jazz is NOT strictly instrumental and must have some form of vocal quality about it. "Berlin 1991 Part I" is completely INSTRUMENTAL jazz, so don't expect BB King or Rosemary Clooney to be crooning in the background. Aside from that, it seems to be some arty form of jazz; the kind that only beatnicks and John Steinbeck enthusiasts would find entertaining. I could only picture a room full of black beret wearing new wave jazz cats snapping their fingers and muttering "Go man, Go...." to the music that they seem to be enjoying. Between you and me, dear listener, berets just ain't my style.

Track one began and I thought that the live recording included the sounds of the band warming up and tuning their instruments, but soon figured out that they were really playing a song on track one. It was something akin to that which would be heard in the mountain remoteness of Tibet, hence the name.... "Tibet."

The next tracks included several renditions of instrumental jazz and the large crowd caught on the recording seemed to enjoy it, since the applause was so loud. I guess they had been playing to a Siberian prison camp that hadn't heard any form of music in twenty years. That crowd would applaud when they heard someone banging spoons on the bottom of a frying pan.

I played the CD once and haven't plans to pull it out at any time in the future, but granted there is that warning that this review is composed by someone who prefers to hear someone singing with the help of a band. I'm sure that somebody out there enjoys this sort of stuff. I'll probably walk down the street and hand the CD to anyone wearing a groovy, neato, cool, black beret. They'd probably enjoy it more than I did. From this perspective, I have to give the recording a low score, but take it for what it is worth.