John Stewart - Complete Phoenix Concerts (18 tracks) +Album Reviews

Idealized Images of America from an Unknown Living Legend

dev1 | Baltimore | 06/26/2000

(4 out of 5 stars)

"One cannot consider The Complete Phoenix Concerts as a pre-1975 John Stewart Greatest Hits package because John doesn't have any hits. These are the compositions that made John an unknown living legend and a secret American icon. Over the past four decades, his fans have followed him through various musical styles ; their devotion never wavering. Eighteen tracks of country, folk and rock from a singer/songwriter wearing cowboy boots and hat. The Complete Phoenix Concerts is the culmination of an illustrative musical style which opened the door for the Texas school of songwriters: Nancy Griffith, Townes Van Zandt, Guy Clark, Steve Earle and Joe Ely. Compositions telling John's story in sketches, words and images.There's a ghost of something lost long ago running through each of his songs. The ghost is always there - you can feel it in your bones. Perhaps it's the ghost of barefooted ladies treated with dignity and respect (Wheatfield Lady, The Runaway Fool Of Love, July Your A Woman), or the ghost of quiet and simple small towns displaced by the interstate (Kansas Rain, The Pirates Of Stone County Road, Oldest Living Son), or the ghost of an optimistic search for humane ethics and a code of morals (You Can't Look Back, Little Road And A Stone To Roll, Freeway Pleasure). Then again, maybe it's the ghost of a topic not taught in public schools today - patriotism (Roll Away The Stone, The Last Campaign Trilogy, Mother Country). John Stewart's idealized images of America are not popular, but should anyone expect less from an unknown living legend.Technical note: Considering this is a 1974 analog recording of a live concert, the sound is surprisingly professional. Credit Bear Family of Germany for another quality CD reissue."

I know I'm living in the past with this but . . .

G. Zaehringer | Ventura, California United States | 01/31/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

". . . what a GREAT album this was - and it was live. I have no idea what made me buy this when it first came out - I wasn't familiar with the guy - but I fell in love with this album and played it death and NO ONE at my east coast college cared a whit about it (my roommate was very into Queen). My God, it was 28 years ago! For some reason whenever I see Harrison Ford I think of John Stewart. This is a type of music and songwriting that a lot of critics would hate, it draws heavily on the past and is in many ways derivative, but what a TERRIFIC derivative. To this day, almost 30 years later, I still find myself singing, "Mississippi boy, learning how to live on the road . . ." There are 292 million people in the USA and about 291,500,000 are worse off for never having heard this album."

You can't go back to Kansas

sheila.browne@virgin.net | Coventry UK | 12/21/2000

(5 out of 5 stars)

"In July 1975 Noel Edmonds, the breakfast DJ on National Radio 1 here in the UK, made " July, You're a Woman " his record of the week. It didn't make it a chart topper,but it did make me go out and by this album. I virtually wore out my vinyl copy over the next 23 years and replaced it with CD at the end of 1998. I have played this album in one format or another every week since 1975 and never tired of it. I just wish I'd been there...Classic songs that are nostalgic without becoming dated and that still make me think new things, even after all these years. For me John Stewart is the greatest of the American singer songwriters and this album is one of his best. Listen, marvel and then explore the rest of his oeuvre."

A Moment in Time

Tom Schusterbauer | West Bloomfield, Michigan United States | 11/18/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"My 38-year-old son likes to say that Guy Clark, James Talley, John Prine, Steve Goodman, and John Stewart were the soundtrack of his life from his birth until he was thirteen or fourteen. True enough. Mostly, however, it was John Stewart.

This is hardly an original thought, but Stewart deserves so much better a fate than he has received. Always recognized by musicians and critics as one of America's true national treasures, he has labored for the past 40 years to a cult following, loyal to the bone, but hardly the size of the following that he has earned.

If you have never heard him, then this is where to start. I was sitting in a small college club on the night when he and his bass player, Arnie "Wide load" Moore were looking over the proofs for this album's cover. And, as with all John Stewart shows, it was sly, at times truly rocking, and, at times, intensely personal. The album is all of that and more.

Stewart covers a lot of territory here, mainly from his first three or four solo albums, after he left the Kingston Trio. He was almost a superstar in Phoenix at the time, so the crowd feeds off him, and he and his friends return the favor. Some of his lyrics and some of his patter make the audience laugh and hoot. At other times, the auditorium is almost preternaturally quiet, as Stewart moves poetically and dramatically through "The Pirates of Stone County Road."

But for me, this recording's version of what I think is his finest song--"Mother Country"--is a golden moment, filled with wistfulness, nostalgia, some melancholy, but ultimately vibrating with the hope of the human spirit. Stewart first recorded this song on his critically acclaimed album, California Bloodlines. But by the time of this concert, he had expanded the lyrics, and had, I think, discovered the true depth and drama of this piece of songwriting, had enriched it, polished it, perfected it.

John Stewart is almost 70, but earlier this year, he brought out a new CD, The Day the River Sang. It belongs in the top 4 or 5 of his many, many recordings, as do his first three, Signals Through the Glass, California Bloodlines, and Willard--the latter three being well represented on this recording, The Complete Phoenix Concerts.

Years ago, I sang my children to sleep with a spare and sweet love song by Stewart simply called "Joe." I miss Steve Goodman. I will always love Guy Clark, John Prine, and James Talley.

But John Stewart and this particular recording--they are my heart."

One of the great live albums

Martin W. Ward | Littleton, CO USA | 06/15/2000

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Live albums are often a disappointment. Sometimes it is because the artist just copies, note for note, the studio version of the songs. Sometimes it is because the changes they make in the song performing live are not particularly inspired. The Phoenix Concerts, however, is a great live album. The album captures an inspired performance, including John's banter with the audience, and the songs really rock, with a tight band adding to the songs. John specializes in insightful songs about America and Americans, the hope and dreams of people and the appreciation of the past. The album serves as a career summary to 1974, with many of John's most memorable songs captured in the magic of one night in Phoenix."

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