Search - Robert Gordon, Link Wray, Chris Speeding :: Live Fast Love Hard

Arjan D.
Reviewed on 11/11/2009...

This new release on the Fuel 2000 label claims to contain an unreleased concert from '78 featuring Link Wray. However, a large chunk of the '78 show was already released in early 2007 on "Lotta Lovin'" (Climate Change 003), and it's still not the complete show, with a.o. 'Heartbreak Hotel' missing.
Also, the show on CD2 is not vintage as has been suggested elsewhere, it's a recent show that was probably recorded last year at BB King's in NYC. The show and the format are very similar to other recent Gordon & Spedding live-releases like "Rockin' The Paradiso" and "The Reunion Tour" ... just more of the same, in my view. These recent live recordings are hard going, as these days Gordon is huffing and puffing more than that he really rocks. His range sounds very limited compared to the early live-recordings on disc 1, and after just a few tracks I already felt listening fatigue due to his monotonous, somewhat droning voice. It also seems that these tracks were subjected to significant overdubbing, especially on the vocals, and therefore they lack the spontaneity of a genuine live performance. It all sounds a bit too stiff and too lifeless for me. It's ironic that as much as Robert Gordon symbolized the greatness of the young Elvis in his early years, it seems that these days he represents everything that was so sad about Presley in the singer's final Vegas years: the ballooning weight, the uneven live performances, rumours about substance abuse, the stories about temper tantrums on the road.... It's a sad end to an interesting career.

The Alpha and the Omega of Robert Gordon

Arjan Deelen | Naestved, DK Denmark | 11/10/2009

(2 out of 5 stars)

"This new release on the Fuel 2000 label claims to contain an unreleased concert from '78 featuring Link Wray. However, a large chunk of the '78 show was already released in early 2007 on "Lotta Lovin'" (Climate Change 003), and it's still not the complete show, with a.o. `Heartbreak Hotel' missing.

Also, the show on CD2 is not vintage as has been suggested elsewhere, it's a recent show that was probably recorded last year at BB King's in NYC. The show and the format are very similar to other recent Gordon & Spedding live-releases like "Rockin' The Paradiso" and "The Reunion Tour" ... just more of the same, in my view. These recent live recordings are hard going, as these days Gordon is huffing and puffing more than that he really rocks. His range sounds very limited compared to the early live-recordings on disc 1, and after just a few tracks I already felt listening fatigue due to his monotonous, somewhat droning voice. It also seems that these tracks were subjected to significant overdubbing, especially on the vocals, and therefore they lack the spontaneity of a genuine live performance. It all sounds a bit too stiff and too lifeless for me. It's ironic that as much as Robert Gordon symbolized the greatness of the young Elvis in his early years, it seems that these days he represents everything that was so sad about Presley in the singer's final Vegas years: the ballooning weight, the uneven live performances, rumours about substance abuse, the stories about temper tantrums on the road.... It's a sad end to an interesting career.

"