Voice from hell
MARK M CLARK | Urbana, Illinois | 03/13/2000
(3 out of 5 stars)
"I've always been a fan of Grossman (his ragtime and blues transcriptions) and Renbourn's interpretation of English traditional music. Imagine my surprise to find their double live album in the used record bin for $7! As soon as I started playing it though, something started bothering me: It was Grossman's voice. I see why none his treasured albums have any vocals. Imagine having just been served a wonderful aged steak, and having the waiter standing over you, making you dip each morsel into catchup! Nothing against New Yorker's, but Grossman's deep, deep Manhattan accent just destroys this album for me (despite some wonderful guitar work and vocals by Renbourn). Their duet on Candyman is simply obscene, with Grossman hamming up the falsetto part (c.f., Dave Van Ronk's wonderful cover). There is no chemistry between these two excellent artists."