Outstanding
S. Saenz | 01/05/2007
(5 out of 5 stars)
"Your first mistake is turning to Amazon reviews to decide whether or not you should buy one of Jeff Buckleys LIVE CDs!! I had to share this CD with my sister, who happened to introduce me to Jeff Buckley and we both agree that there are no complaints on this compilation. If you've never heard Jeff Buckley...you will only appreciate this CD if you absolutely love music, seeing as its live and its only perfect in the sense that it was performed for a live audience. Hopefully, youll share the experience."
A Review from a Serious Buckley Collector
Cabir Davis | 10/19/2007
(2 out of 5 stars)
"To start with, I am a huge Jeff Buckley collector, and pride myself on the various rare bootlegs and vintage recordings that I have (including ones from the late 1980s that I suspect ANYONE else could possibly have - yes, I could myself very lucky).
That said, I am always critical when they release a Jeff Buckley record, and this one was no exception. Don't get me wrong, when they do it right, they REALLY do it right. The collector in me was ecstatic when they released the 3 Disc 'Live in Sin E' a few years ago - that remains perhaps the best document of Jeff as a live performer.
Needless to say, I was not at all happy with this recording. The only saving grace is that they stuffed as much music as possible onto this, thus giving us our moneys' worth. But the recordings themselves are very sub-standard. If you're new to Jeff, this would be a horrible place to start. If you're a casual fan, I can't imagine you being inspired by anything here.
Primary culprit is the very cheap material they have used for actually recording the session. Hisses are present throughout, and very often the boisterous crowd sounds louder than Jeff. Know some of those old Pearl Jam bootlegs where the crowd sounds louder than the group? Well, thats how bad it sounds here. Not a good thing.
I'm sorry, but I cannot recommend this. There are FAR TOO MANY good bootlegs out there that make this redundant. I recently put together my own Jeff Buckley's Rarities 7-CD compilation (for my personal listening pleasure) and did not choose to include one track from here. As it stands, both his bootlegs from Glastonbury and Rotterdam rate higher than this - so do try to get those instead.
Two Stars. And both of those generous stars are for the memory of Jeff."
Overcooked exaltation
IRate | 03/31/2009
(3 out of 5 stars)
"Although a fascinating falsetto, there is no doubt Buckley was a bit self-absorbed with his own vocal tendencies. If you find Grace at all overbearing then, you will definitely wince at a majority of live renditions here, presenting averagely recorded tour footage complete with utterly wrenching emotion to agonizingly pretentious fluttering abouts."