Not a great experience from these guys
591566
Item was not on a roll as pictured, many crimped places there were unusable to me. Not a great experience from these guys.
2393146
Not nearly as enjoyable to listen to as their live performances. They are amazing live and can really swing, but if you've seen them on programs such as Austin City Limits, do not expect to have the experience replicated by this canned-sounding recording.
986881
I think Neil side tricked the guys into doing a unbalanced tour based on living at war where the tunes are so mediocre. i think this is why the performances are halfassed the boys were not that into it and it shows...neil sure was.....they need to stick to a show where its back to back great tunes...need a better back up band too...blah blah etc
2214677
Let me just say that I think James Cotton is one of the greats as well as Carey Bell and Junior Wells. I don't know much about Billy Branch and I don't care. This record in terms of blues power has maybe 2 good ones, and a very big maybe- 4 tops. It would seem like a great album by reading the credits but this just didn't go down right. I can't insult these guys as great players but this just gets old real real quick and it is nowhere near what these guys can do individually.  Sometimes these all-star jams produce something far greater than each player-here the depth is just lost. Lucky Peterson Plays on it and though he has great technical skill, is real low on taste and soul here it seems to me. As for the fun side of it- it wears thin for me and I rarely take it off my shelf. Out of about 3 or 4 hundred recordings in my collection- this I take out one of the least. And that is just for a fine rendition of Black Night by Cotton. This just didn't work I am sorry to say. I would strongly recommend that you hear 4 or 5 of these tracks before shelling out a ridiculous amount of money to buy the cd. I just can't say that this record is worth it at all. A solo album by one of these fellas would be more worth the while. It is just mostly songs that don't stand up to the passing of time like an old Howlin' Wolf record is. I just don't care for it and think you are better off somewhere else. If you want a recommendation for a great find than here are two of my favorites of all time : West Side Soul, by Magic Same Maghett and T-Bone Blues, by T-Bone Walker. This is just a fluke in these guys careers I think.
783937
I give them credit for trying to be different.

On the other hand...
They aren't that different. They aren't that good. And in many respects they are rude, inappropriate, and anti-Christian.

I've read various write-ups about them (and by them) and they aren't supposed to be blue grass, or punk, or anything else in particular (although they do claim to draw upon those and other influences). Unfortunately, they aren't good at their blue grass facet, they aren't good at their punk facet, or any other facet of their music, and they aren't that creative or interesting generally.

True, they have a lot of energy and enthusiasm. That's a plus. But it doesn't go far against all of the obvious let-downs.

And while much (most?) music these days is full of profanity, immorality, drugs & alcohol, and anti-religious themes, that doesn't excuse .357 String Band for doing it too. It was a real let down in that respect. Even if I loved the music in and of itself (which I very much didn't), I wouldn't bother listening to them because of the negative and destructive messages they found so amusing to spatter throughout their lyrics.

But let me be clear, just in case you could care less about their lyrical content, leaving that completely out of the evaluation still leaves them severely lacking in terms of being enjoyable musically. And, for what it's worth, I have an extremely wide spectrum of music in my collection--few people I know listen to as many different (even juxtaposed) styles of music as I do and from so many different eras of time, including everything from current radioplay to obscure 80 year old recordings. So don't discount my critique by thinking I'm closed minded or that I haven't been around the block, musically speaking.

Avoid .357 String Band. Save yourself a few dollars and a few hours of your time.

Steve
1014281
I love this band, but I think this is the weakest of their albums.  The sound engineering is poor, especially on vocal tracks accompanied by music, where the vocals sound distant and weak.  The a capella songs are fine.  The arrangement and execution of the music seem a little bit rushed.  Nevertheless, you should get their other albums: If you think this album is OK, the others are better, and if you think this is great, the others will blow you away.

The engineering is particularly evident on "Ninety Miles an Hour", which is a fun song that deserves better treatment.  The vocals don't hold up to the accompaniment.  The arrangement itself fails some, too, in that it ends immediately after the last verse instead of carrying through another round of music, which would have been a better choice by a band whose strong point is instrumental music.
3094956
These guys are one of my favorite bands of all time and they haven't disappointed, this just wasn't as good of a CD as their older stuff.
3028561
From a band that produced such classics as Cowboys from Hell, and Vulgar Display of Power, one would certainly expect them to be much tighter live than they are on this disc.  Phil's vocals are bloody *** awful on this  album, although they were never great to begin with.  Dime's guitar is  thin, and in places is a bit sloppy.  Though they sound good on classics  like "This Love" and "Hollow", they sound half-*** on  material like "Cemetary Gates".  The Trendkill material never  should have seen the light of day, much less been played live.  The new  tracks, however, are a hell of a lot better than anything on Trendkill.  All in all a good live album, but I expected a little more.
3277971
This is pretend progressive music. While these guys are great musicians, they haven't figured out songwriting or conceptually what they're doing, so this is as boring as a slide show in grade school. Beep.
2635086
Well, maybe listening to this album immediately after listening to&nbsp;<a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/Hawk-Eyes/dp/B000000YGD/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">Hawk Eyes</a>&nbsp;wasn't such a good idea; in spite of some very very talented musicians gathered here,
in spite of some hot moments, some nice swing and bluesy licks, this album just is not as good as it should be;
the loose arrangements and some uninspired solos bring down the excitement promised by the line-up, by the intro of some songs and by some quite brilliant solos.
And, yes, I didn't expect the Cootie Williams group to show R&B tendencies... It just doesn't work all that well for Cootie (although his group also has some fine jazz moments).
4120604
When you join former members of 2 superstar bands expectations are high,
after all GnR and STP were monster bands . Well I have to say that velvet revolver's first effort is a not even close to the sterling debuts of the former bands . While there are some good moments on this CD ,overall in my humble opinion ,it is lacking that little extra . Look maybe Im jaded but there are no Welcome back to the jungle or paradise city or sex type thing or dead and bloated caliber songs . Look Slash is a great guitarist and Weiland is a great singer but together Im not sold on this union.
2353674
It all started for me with the Kingston Trio. I find now that revisiting the Bros 4, it's like listening to 4 Pat Boones and that's about as bland as it gets. Sort if good to hear them again however it's still the KT by daylight from all other such groups.
2739736
I love these guys - but Jon never once looked like he was into this concert and they don't play much of the old stuff.  I have all their new releases and like them too - but the reason they are as popular as they are is from the 80s and 90s catalog, little of which is on this album.  It's a nice concert video, but mainly just for background music.  I wouldn't recommend this one.
1313878
This DVD did not have the level of class that their other productions have had. The singers seemed not to be enjoying themselves as much as in the others and the audience did not get into the music as much there was not the standing ovations that the others had throughout it.
4897506
I'm a big fan of Steve Earle and the Dukes and I had the good fortune to see them during this tour. I looked at the song listings and bought it on the spot. Let me caution against doing that. Take advantage of the ability to sample each track on Amazon. The band sounds really tight, but Steve has a scratchy voice. He is obviously trying hard, but for the majority of these cuts his voice is just not up to snuff. I doubt that Steve would have approved of releasing this recording. It is probably another attempt of his former label to make the last bucks they can make on the "old" Steve Earle recordings. I would endorse The Austin City "live" set or the previously released live CD "Shut Up ..." Be cautious and investigate before you pay too much for this recording.
3810531
Did an OK job. The guys sent were not professional movers but more general house services, so didn't have the moving expertise. Were able to move a few pieces but not more complex or heavier items.
4511219
These Spanish guys have not decided what they want to be. There are some bombastic rough edged tunes, some ballads, and some straight ahead pop/rock. The latter is by far the most compelling, and the ballads (besides Rain) are very nondescript. The cover songs are abysmal (especially Hungry Heart). That was a very mediocre Springsteen song anyway, but believe me, you don't want to hear this. If they stick to the mid-tempo stuff next time; they may warrant another listen.