Search - David Crosby :: King Biscuit Flower Hour Presents in Concert

The best he can be !

10/27/1999

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Recorded in 1989, David Crosby was fresh out of prison, clean and sober, and by the sound of this live recording, was out to prove he could still be an important musician. He manages to prove just that !The band at this time consisted of Dan Dugmore (lead guitar), Mike Finnegan (keyboards), Davy Farragher (bass), and Jody Cortez (drums), and David (rhythm guitar). That's it. No cameos from Graham or anyone else, and that suits me just fine. It's just David out in front of a simple band, with no one else vying for center stage. He actually plays guitar on every single track (except for the piano ballads "Delta",and "Oh, Yes I Can"),and although he's never been more than a marginal guitarist, he's does a respectable job grinding out chords behind Dugmore's excellent leads. This is most apparent on "Wooden Ships", where we hear David's twelve string ringing true, and it seems he was actually making an effort to get creative with it. This is most telling at closing portion of the song where he provides a goosebump provoking lick to close out the song. This is the best live performance of "Wooden Ships" I've ever heard, either by CSN, CSN&Y, Jefferson Airplane, or on Stills' solo efforts. We get similar results on "Deja Vu", "Long Time Gone", and "Almost Cut My Hair". The album is balanced out by material from the "Oh, Yes I Can" album, and basically mirrors the solo versions, which is ok. The material was new at this point in time. Per Croz's usual routine, the show starts out with an acoustic set (Tracks in the Dust, Guinnevere, Compass, and In My Dreams). He does a nice enough job with these (with the exception of the lyrically tortured "Compass", a song with such obscure lyrics that even the composer forgets the words on the first line !). But the real gems are the electric songs. Along with the aforementioned classics, we get the new composition "Nighttime For the Generals", which rocks (with David adding guitar...something he didn't do on American Dream).All-in-all, this is one fine live album. I listen to it a lot. David should be proud of this one !"

Crosby at his best - Buy this before it goes out of print!!

S. Sugiyama | 01/12/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"So it happens that this under-marketed CD chronicles one of the highest points in Crosby's career celebrating his triumph over chemical abuse. Crosby's rendition of "Oh, yes I can" here is probably the most maginificent, moving and honest self-commentary in the history of rock music, coming from the man who had gone there and back who used to be, for want of a better word, so arrogant. The emotional content of this performance surpasses the subdued studio version (sadly out of print) by a gigantic margin.The "monkey and the underdog" that follows, with the introduction "I am the underdog", hits the same emotional height as Crosby confesses "I'm fighting just to get from four o'clock to five". I treasure this CD. You just listen to it."

Great Live CD!!!

Fastbrook | 04/27/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This is a wonderful live capture of David Crosby. The updated versions of some of the old standards are a real treat! David had a fine band behind him on this tour. The sound quality is very good as well. I first ran across this concert at the King Biscuit website (Wolfgang's Vault)and loved it. I started poking around and found that they released it on CD. The arrangements of Deja Vu, Wooden Ships, Almost Cut My Hair, and Long Time Gone are just not to be missed. There are a couple of songs on the King Biscuit recording that didn't make it on the CD that I would have liked to get. One in particular is Drop Down Mama. A gread blues rocker. At any rate, if you're a Crosby or a CSNY fan, you'll want to get this."