A Gogo Review

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(More customer reviews)If you have not seen Patty in Concert, please do so! I am a relocated New Englander that has been lucky enough to see her perform on 5 occasions. While I love her studio work I believe that her live performances are where she truly shines! This CD is like a cherished souvenier from her performance. This woman can send shivers up my spine. She can make you laugh, then have you on the brink of tears just minutes later. Just listen to her guitar work! I have not been able to figure out why Patty is not a Superstar. She can play circles around Bonnie Whatsername, and writes some of the most incisive lyrics I have ever heard. Six of the Fourteen cuts on this CD are from "Angels Running" which gets my vote as her best studio release. Listen to "Do Not Disturb" and "Who Holds Your Hand". Guaranteed to turn you into a Pathead! Love Yah Patty!

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Live at the Hollywood Palladium (December 15, 1988) Review

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(More customer reviews)Dubbed "the Human Riff" and widely hailed as perhaps the greatest rhythm guitarist in the history of rock n' roll, Keith Richards often plays in open-chord blues tunings, frustrating those who try to copying him with his unique five-string setup.
On this raw, ragged live album, he is backed by his session drummer Steve Jordan, who keeps a good groove going but apparently has all the imagination of a turnip. He is Richards' songwriting partner, though, and that must count for something.
Excellent second guitarist Robert "Waddy" Wachtel is here as well, as is bassist Charley Drayton, keyboardist Ivan Neville (who plays some great blues-and-boogie piano), and a long-time Stones-ally, saxist Bobby Keys.
Keith Richards and the Winos tear through nine songs from Keith's first solo album, "Talk Is Cheap", as well as a few Stones-songs, including a harder-rocking rendition of "Connection" from "Between The Buttons". Richards' guitar playing is smouldering, he lays down a superb groove all along, and his rough, hoarse vocals are pure rock n' roll!
Highlights include a swinging, sax-enhanced "Too Rude", the #3 single off "Talk Is Cheap", "Take It So Hard", the magnificent, down and dirty blues, "Make No Mistake", Richards' signature tune "Happy", the smoky slow "Locked Away", and the tough, muscular riff-rockers "I Could Have Stood You Up" and "How I Wish". Everything is played with grit and determination, and "Live at the Hollywood Palladium" has that organic feel which the Rolling Stones have had trouble capturing since the mid-70s.
Keith Richards has the ability to rock like very few others, and he shows that on this fine live album. It's not excactly polished, but what do you expect from a live recording of Keith Richards and a band dubbed "the X-Pensive Winos"?

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Talk Is Cheap Review

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(More customer reviews)This album made the top 40 album charts back in 1988 and went Gold. It got very good reviews and then was completely forgotten about. This album is a stone cold classic and every song on here is damn good.The band that Keith assembled for this project is one of the best bands ever, outside of the Rolling Stones. They have their own funky, rockin' groove, unbeatable energy and sound like they have been playing together forevor, instead of for mere weeks. If James Brown reallly wants to make a comeback, all he has to do is cover the opening song-"Big Enough". It is done in the classic J.B style and features Bootsy Collins on bass, Maceo Parker on alto sax and Bernie Worrell on organ. Ex- Stone Mick Taylor even puts in an appearance on "I Could Have Stood You Up", a rockabilly tune so authentic, it sounds like it was written for Elvis in 1956. It even features Chuck Berry's keyboard man Johnnie Johnson tearing up the keys as only he can. "Make No Mistake" is one of Keith's very best ballads and features his most soulful vocal ever. It has the Memphis Horns on it to give it real southern soul and funk. "You Don't Move Me" is a lyrical bitch slap to his old partner/nemesis Mick Jagger.(Mick retaliated with "Shoot off Your Mouth" later the same year on his limp "Primitive Cool" solo album.) He called this band the X-Pensive Winos and the other members included Waddy Wachtel on guitar, Steve Jordan on drums, Ivan Neville on keyboards and Charlie Drayton on bass. They even went on tour and released a good live album, although the album didn't come out until 1991(the tour was in '88). There is some good New Orleans cajun funk on "Rockawhile" with Sara Dash wailing soulfully on background vocals and Stanley "Buckwheat" Dural pumping away on his accordion. The band really locks into a groove on this one. This album features better songs and more committed playing than most Stones albums from this era and is way funkier than any of Sir Mick's spotty solo albums. The next time Mick wants to do a solo project, he should hire the X-Pensive Winos featuring Keith Richards.

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O Holy Night Review

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(More customer reviews)I actually would like to rate this album 4.5 stars. It's not perfect, but its highs pull it towards 5 stars more than its lows pull it towards four stars.
I often think that artists tread upon dangerous ground when they alter the melodies of all-time favorite hymns and carols. Sometimes it works (see Fernando Ortega), often it doesn't. Sara Groves alters the melodies of several standard carols on this album, and I have to say, the results are fabulous. They are actually the strength of the album in my opinion. In particular I found "It Came Upon a Midnight Clear" and "Angels We Have Heard on High" to be excellent renditions that I am excited to add to my Christmas music rotation.
In addition to the standard carols, there are also a handful of original songs. I don't have anything against original tunes on a Christmas album, but I often find them to be inferior to the standard carols (I have to admit, I'm a sucker for all the carol favorites). On this album I had a range of reactions to the various original tunes. Most of them I would put in the "actually pretty good" category, but one of them - "To Be With You" - is as beautiful and any Christmas carol out there. It will definitely be in the rotation for Christmases to come.
The reason why I would give it 4.5 stars instead of 5 stars is because there are, in my opinion, a couple clunkers on the album. Of course, music is all a matter of personal preference, so don't let this criticism keep you from checking out this album. Specifically, I found the original song "It's True" to be a bit treacly for me, and the song "Toy Packaging," while kind of quirky and fun, is also a little too, I don't know, quirky and fun for my tastes. But of course, that's just my tastes.
On the whole though, I highly recommend this album. It's one of the best to come out in recent memory.

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Classic Christmas with a uniqueness that is Sara Groves. O Holy Night evokes all that is good, warm and friendly during this special season showcasing perennial Christmas favorites as well as four new original songs. Guest feature artist is Toby Groves. She was named one of the best Christian music artists of 2005 and the album, Add to the Beauty, was named "Album of the Year" for 2005 by CCM Magazine. Sara was the subject of a film released in August 2006, titled "Sara Groves - Just Showed Up For My Own Life", the first installment of a new reality film series called Nomad: The Show With No Home produced by Fearless Films Inc.

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