Almost as good as being there
341321
The title says it all.  It is a comprehensive history of the Fair since its earliest days.  Each picture with enlighten or bring back memories.  The captions often help explain various facets of the fair.  The only thing better would be if it came with Fishers Scones.
1701506
It is very entertaining and quite accurate of the surroundings. Definitely makes you want to be there if for nothing else but the food.
2860942
I bought Live in the Square at a solo Patty Larkin performance at the (now long gone) Old Vienna Coffee House in Westborough, MA. An excellent up-close intimate venue. I was close enough I might have been able to touch her guitar if we both leaned forward. A most remarkable concert.

She has impressive guitar skills and it was around this time I heard she had studied guitar with Richard Thompson (<a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/Across-a-Crowded-Room/dp/B00002475Q/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">Across a Crowded Room</a>) who had already impressed me. This eclectic mix of original works and a cover all carries a certain joy, hope, energy and sadness which make her performances so recognizable.

On this album her rendition of The Letter, I'm White and The Mall have me tapping my toes. Ruby, The Last Leviathan and Metal Drums make me feel their pain. The rest of the music brings it's own feelings from me. The point is nothing leaves me feeling flat.

One thing I appreciate is the spoken intro tracks. Both their content and they are separate from the associated tracks.

Finally, I have to give her credit for a credible Ethel Merman and Marlene Dietrich imitation.

I hope this helps someone.
1979915
Some things are so good you don't want to spoil them all at once.  I've had books that were this good - so good that I didn't want to rush through to the end, opting instead to dole out the pages at a leisurely pace, preferring to read at just the right time when I could really take it all in.  And this is an album that falls in this category - regardless of it being live, regardless of it being filled with songs I already know (aside from one,) I want to let each moment breathe and be something special for fear that if I rush through to hear it all I'll somehow spoil it.  And so the truth is that while I've listened to almost nothing but <em>Kicking Television</em> since Tuesday morning, I've yet to actually hear the whole thing - when I've gotten distracted for any period of time, I've restarted listening to it from the beginning.

At the time of this writing, I'd gotten close, but I hadn't even reached the monstrous Can-meets-Rolling-Stones epic "Spiders (Kidsmoke)" (track 10 of 11 on disc 2,) from whence my sub-header is stolen, yet I can say that this is one of the best live albums I've ever heard.  The sound is stunning - it's honest and warm, untouched other than getting some loving tweaking at the mixing stage.  No overdubs where the musicians flubbed a note or two, or where the vocals weren't just right, and that's the way a live album should be, especially for a band like Wilco and even more especially for <em>this</em> version of Wilco, who are easily the finest grouping of musicians Jeff Tweedy has assembled to back him.  And even though the songs were recorded over four separate concerts on as many nights, everything meshes perfectly.  There's no attempt to hide the fact that this isn't one concert, but more a representation of what a Wilco show can be.

The clarity is amazing - in front of a noisy audience with 6 musicians making as much of a racket as they can (such as at the end of "I Am Trying To Break Your Heart" or the subway-inspired noises in "Via Chicago,") every noise and every instrument is perfectly clear.  For people who really enjoy listening closely, this is a real treat.  (Jazz guitarist Nels Cline's fascinating contributions are audible in the left channel, Pat Sansone's guitar and keyboard work are in the right, and Jeff Tweedy's guitar is just slightly right of center while the rest of the band pans out between the three of them.)

It's so good I have to carry it around with me, so I can look at the lovingly designed (but slightly minimal) artwork, a hallmark of Nonesuch-label projects.  I just can't commit it to simple mp3 files in my Ipod just yet - I'm not ready to give up on the tangible goods.  It all, as a whole, needs time to soak in before I can file it away in the collection.  If only every live album could be this lovingly prepared.  Or every studio album, for that matter.

(The only downside to the whole thing is not getting the accompanying DVD that had been planned and filmed, but has since been scrapped by Tweedy as not "<a href="[...]">giving a sense of the audience, a sense of the time and place</a>."  It's a real shame not getting to <em>see</em> this band performing this material, but I have no doubt in the future we'll get some live video from them.)
4300680
I had previously purchased TD's "Live at the Tempodrome in Berlin" (Original Recording) and had barely finished viewing it when I logged back in to Amazon and ordered the Orange Odyssey DVD. Although the cinematography isn't quite as good as the first DVD, it is still quite good; I think the requirements of the laser lighting effects may have required a bit less than the degree of lighting needed for the best filming. Iris Camaa was her usual smiling animated self as she displayed her mastery of percussion, and the band just showed how much they enjoy performing in front of an audience. This is another "Must Have" concert video from TD! The concert started out with my favorite song "Girl on the Stairs" and just kept getting better, and when they did Jimi Hendrix's "Purple Haze" for an encore the talent of the guitarists really showed (the audience didn't quite know how to react, at first, I don't think they were quite expecting to hear a Jimi Hendrix tune!).
  I hope they tour North America sometime soon, I will definitely be buying tickets to see them.
4421403
The performance is state-of-the-art jazz in 1964.  The band's sound is based around Tony Williams' simmering, relaxed swing - he's brilliant.
Unlike the way these guys played after Wayne Shorter joined, the performances here are close enough to the tunes as to be clear representations of those tunes.  And most are really beautiful.
The more open, relaxed tunes lend themselves to peaceful, pre-psychedelic meditation really (best example "My Funny Valentine").  The up-tempo numbers are played incredibly fast, perhaps a reaction to a behind-the-scenes disagreement over whether the band should be paid by Miles (this was a benefit concert for the NAACP) - and they hang together (best example "All Blues").  Thankfully the recording engineers captured this in clear, strong fidelity, making this a classic jazz recording.
3864220
Just saw these ladies at ACL Fest in Austin and they blew me away. The CD is so good, too. I can now see what all the fuss is about. The CD isn't quite as rockin' as the live show but still great. The phrasing and musical choices are just so interesting and not a copycat of anything else out there.
2014748
Crream's triumphant return is brilliantly filmed during their week in Albert Hall.  The sound quality and photography is first rate, and the images are well-timed and skillfully directed.

The band itself is in top form and shows its musical age and experience brilliantly.  Eric Clapton's guitar playing is as good as you will see or hear anywhere.  Jack Bruce and Ginger Baker still are an exciting and stimulating rhythm section, and, in fact, Bruce does his famous duelling with Clapton on some of the numbers here.  We see it especially in Sunshine of Your Love.  Bruce and Clapton, despite their ages, still manage to sing their numbers with the same kind of verve as they did almost 40 years prior.

Of special interest here is the lack of gimmickry.  There are no wah-wah pedals, for example, and no real distortion feedback effects.  Stilll, the DVD has much to keep up the interest of the Cream fan who watches it.

No DVD of a live performance is perfect, and there are few but notable letdowns here.  For instance, they include the witty but musically weak "Pressed Rat and Warthog"  from the Wheels of Fire collection.  The version of "Toad" here is rather long, and I'm not a fan of drawn-out drum solos, although Baker is amazingly energetic in this one.

Still, for any Cream fans out there, this is a fine DVD to have.  You probably won't watch this just once!
2268954
This double live album contains an intimate atmosphere from a cool audience which adds to the power of this truly wonderful performance. It's also an excellent sounding live album. You got to love these traveling minstrels. Their live versions are extended and are different from the studio versions. If you haven't heard Blackmore's Night before, "Past Times With Good Company" is a great introduction.

Past Times With Good Company ~ Blackmore's Night: 4 1/2 stars
2489894
This cd was recorded live at a jazz club in St Louis, and I wish I could have attended this concert. I actually saw Benny Green and Russell Malone play together a little later at another jazz club, and the enthusiasm with which they play and share with the audience  is very tangible.

This cd has 13 music tracks (and two 'introductions' for each artist). There are two originals, a bunch of standard-y standards (monk, strayhorn, coltrane tunes), and a few 'new standards', ie pop tunes made into jazz ('killing me softly' for instance). It is up there, along Jim Hall and Bill Evans 'undercurrent', as one of the best jazz duo of a guitarist and a pianist. The guitar and the piano complement each other perfectly, with each instrument being in turn melodic or harmonic. The styles of BG and RM differ a bit (complement each other as well), with BG going towards more harmonic sophistication, and RM towards more virtuosity.

The recipe here is the same as their other subsequent cd, 'bluebird', which I recommand equally. I guess this one should be picked first due to its seniority (it is 2 years older), but I cannot come up with a better reason.
1611108
Saw this show at Saratoga and still consider it to be one of, if not his best live performances.  This brought back all the memories of that show.
4907306
I had the opportunity to catch Roger Waters on tour this past summer, and this 2 CD set is a very nice reflection of the music played on that tour.
The first CD is the stronger of the two, for a couple of reasons: first of all, this may very well contain THE definitive version of Shine On You Crazy Diamond (Parts 1-8), with an incredible Waters pounding on bass as he bridges part 4 into 5. That song alone is worth the admission price! Next, there is beautifully played (and great sounding) "Set The Controls For The Heart Of The Sun", which in the Cincinnati show opened the second set and is somewhat unfortunately here stuck at the end of the first CD. Finally, there a is the seldom-played "Dogs", from the underrated "Animals" CD.
Not to suggest that the second CD is not good, but do we really need ANOTHER version of "Money"? I was surprised to see it show up in his set list, and it's the reason I'm rating this CD 4, instead of 5 stars. On the other hand, it was nice to see "Pros and Cons of Hitch Hiking" and "Amused to Death", both of which are included here.
In all, this is a very satisfying record. Roger Waters seemed like he was having a good time at the concert here (even smiling!). This album reflects the relaxed yet very crisp sounding band, as a result this is better than any of the tired-sounding live Pink Floyed albums of late ("Pulse" anyone?)
1689594
The Venue is amazing, the blu ray high def, is amazing , if you have a decent home theater , it feels like you are right there. I just wish that the majority of Americans got into this kind of music as much as the Europeans, it made me want to buy a ticket to London and see a show !
765791
I attended the performances of this at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, in 1983, over two nights, in excellent seats, well placed to see the visuals. (If you were up in the nosebleed seats at BAM it would not have been ideal.) This was quite a riveting series of performances, and I bought the recordings on 4 cassettes when they appeared. (Note that the original performances were around eight hours, so this is just more than half of the total.)

Laurie Anderson was part avant-garde, part carnival huckster, and you could watch and listen to her and never know exactly which side she was leaning toward. It's easy to dismiss her clich&eacute;s and simplifications, some of which would almost be stand-up comedy; on the other hand, some of her comments and ideas are much deeper and more complex than they seem.

United States was more of a compilation than a thematic performance. She had been riffing about these ideas for several years, and after the success of O, Superman, managed to tie everything together in this longish performance that took place over two nights. Looking back more than twenty years, some of it still stands up, but much of her music and ideas seems sophmoric. Nevertheless, they are a good reflection of an era: when the Cold War was still alive, when music had just shifted from rock to disco to new wave, when a variety of currents had started becoming mainstream (the music of Philip Glass and Steve Reich made it big in those years, notably with a huge Reich retrospective at BAM and a revival of Einstein on the Beach). So there was, even then, a tinge of nostalgia in United States.

I'll agree with what one reviewer says: the visuals were an integral part of this performance. I seem to recall cameras, but I guess there was never enough demand for a video back then. (If it were performed today, there would be a DVD immediately.)

In spite of any negatives, Laurie Andersond had stage presence, had the courage to present some pretty quirky ideas (her style, however, has become mainstream, as can be seen in many movies these days), and was, for a brief period, unique. Unfortunately, after United States, she started repeating the same stuff over and over.

If you lived through the period, and, especially, if you were fortunate enough to see the performances, this would be a good bit of nostalgia. If not, you'll probably be perplexed. It would be interesting, though, to listen to this closely and see just how much the world has changed since then.
3610611
Their recordings are great but to see them live is the best treat of all.  I have gone out of my way several times to see them live and every time these guys really shine.  They are all fantastic musicians.  If they come to your town don't miss them.
1940992
almost as good as seeing her live, this has all the best bits of the show plus a half hour of extras, all as hilarious as the original content.
2908584
Wonderful variety of songs and such talented artists.  It is a pleasure to see. It is almost like being at the concert.