Buckaroos live sound at its peak
hyperbolium | Earth, USA | 04/25/2003
(5 out of 5 stars)
"This 1967 live recording is the perfect complement to the band's better-known Carnegie Hall release of 1966. Not only is the band in top musical form, their presentation to a Japanese audience leans more towards songs than shtick. Not that the shtick is missing entirely (it was - and is to this day - an essential ingredient of the band's stage show), but the skits presented at the Carnegie Hall disc are replaced here with straight-ahead tunes.What's especially remarkable about this concert is a song selection that introduces many new songs, including a few that appear nowhere else (or, at best, very obscurely) in the Buckaroos record catalog. Among the new tunes are "Adios, Farewell, Goodbye, Good Luck, So Long," "Open Up Your Heart," and a trio of instrumentals: "Fiddle Polka," "Steel Guitar Polka," and "Tokyo Polka." The Buckaroos also take on Cajun music with Bob Morris' "Fishin' on the Mississippi," with Owens' partner, Don Rich, taking the lead vocal.As on the Carnegie disc, Owens and Rich sing harmonies with a magnetism that is supernatural. As polished as their duets are on disc, sung live makes daring is all the more evident. Accompanied by ringing telecasters (both Owens and Rich show off their ability to play stinging leads), Tom Brumley's twanging steel, and the solid bottom end of Wayne Wilson and Willie Cantu, these tracks are at once letter-perfect, yet swinging and free. The Buckaroos had a musical chemistry that few bands could ever match, and "In Japan!" captures the band's essence in all its glory."
Domo Arigato!
Johnny Heering | Bethel, CT United States | 02/02/2008
(4 out of 5 stars)
"This was the second live album by Buck Owens, released just two albums after his first live album. It was recorded in Tokyo on February 6, 1967. The first live album featured several medleys of his songs; this album features no medleys, just complete songs. About half of the tunes here are new ones that Buck hadn't recorded before. Buck is the star here, of course, but each of the Buckaroos gets a solo spotlight, either singing a song or playing an instrumental. The instrumentals go over big with the Japanese crowd, by the way. This is a really entertaining concert that will appeal to Buck Owens fans."
Honest communication over the Pacific
detakoizu | Naha, Japan | 08/07/2008
(5 out of 5 stars)
"Since the Beatles came to Japan, there is only a frantic craze in most of rock concerts. Meanwhile, classic music is still welcomed in a formal manner. I feel the fresh air when I hear this album. The Japanese MC introduced Buck and the Buckaroos in both of languages. Buck talked to the audience friendly and honestly and said "I love you" in Japanese. The Buckaroos played so well that the audience sent back a natural feeling. Today's lives in Japan are well prepared and formed, however, this kind of communication is rarely found in them. The ambassador of country music did great works in several countries. Obscure as country music is in Japan, this good feeling should be shared with more and more folks."
Track Listings (17) - Disc #1