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Customer Reviews of Luther Allison: Live In Paradise

Rare look at a bluesman practicing his craft
The concert video "Luther Allison, Live in Paradise", provides a rare look at a true bluesman practicing his craft. Allison's live performances, as captured on several live cd's, were legendary. (When he was young, it was not unusual for him to perform nearly 4 hours onstage!) This particular video was filmed on the island of La Reunion, east of Madagascar in the Indian Ocean; for much of his career, Allison lived in France and made only occasional appearances in the United States. Despite the concert clocking in at just about 2 1/2 hours, Allison's stamina and energy make it hard to believe that he would die of lung cancer less than 4 months later.

Allison had relatively recently returned to the US to record two cd's for Alligator records - "Blue Streak" and "Reckless". Highlights include "Cherry Red Wine" and "Move From the Hood" from the former, and "Pain in the Streets" and "It's a Blues Thing" from the latter. His longtime writing and performing partner, James Solberg, does not appear, nor do his bandmates from those recordings. Instead, he introduces "The New Luther Allison Band", a group of younger players that sometimes has a hard time keeping up with him, with one exception. The young Dutch keyboard player, Roel Spanjers, displays exceptional talent. The same cannot be said of the horns, Boney Fields on trumpet and Gib Monks on tenor, who appear sluggish at times and seemingly suffer from fatigue. An unusually ragged rendition of "Just As I Am" comes a bit past midway through the concert, but Allison redeems himself with some nice slide guitar on son Bernard's "Low Down and Dirty" and an extended version of Elmore Jame's classic "The Sky is Crying". On the latter, Allison wanders through the appreciative crowd. He also shows he can rock and roll with a lively crowd-pleasing rocker called "Parking Lot".

The encore numbers include a solid "Serious", during which Allison introduces his band, and short renditions of "You Can't Always Get What You Want" and "You Are So Beautiful". Allison seems to be enjoying himself very much and could probably have played all night if only the band could have kept up.

I have enjoyed Luther Allison's music for several years and enjoyed this chance to see him perform. Despite his fellow performers, Allison does not disappoint; his singing and playing are just as strong and emotional as ever. The man alone earns 4 stars for putting everything he had into the performance. Had he had a better band behind him, it would have been 5 stars, easy.

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Is America's Most Wanted On This Week?
I hate concert videos. And mimes. But this the best video I own. And I have Young Frankenstien. Turn it up to 11.

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fabulous account of a blues master just before he died.
Wonderful performance and nicely filmed. The fact that he died within 6 months of this show made it even better. I am looking forward to more of Luther's work on video and many other blues artists. FINALLY'