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Singing morbid mini-operas over simple country chord progressions and ungainly programmed rhythms, the Handsome Family were once a better concept than a live band. Their early shows, Rennie Sparks writes in this disc's notes, "elicited chair-throwing and death threats." Live at Schuba's Tavern is more than proof of Rennie and husband Brett's maturation as performers; recorded in December 2000, the set--drawn mainly from In the Air, Through the Trees, and Milk and Scissors--stands as a greatest-hits collection for a band that's as likely to hit the big time as an experimental bagpipe troupe. It's also a fine comedy album, rife with bickering shtick and oddball anecdotes. And not least, this document of one of the duo's last Chicago gigs (they moved to Albuquerque in 2001) is a typically macabre mash note to the city that served as both the Handsome Family's home and muse. Fittingly, it closes with "The Woman Downstairs": "I dreamed of lying down on the el tracks," Brett rumbles over Rennie's wheezing melodica. "The trains roared by under smoke-gray skies/Lake Michigan rose and fell like a bird." --Anders Smith Lindall ... Read more

Reviews (4)

Next best thing to being there
great album by my favorite band...the banter in between the songs is half their sweet charm. You won't be sorry with this one.
=^.^=

Impossibly cool CD
Great Cd by my favorite band. buy it while you can.
gris=^.^=

Amazing disc for fans and newcomers alike.
If youre a Handsome Family fan, you'll love this disc. The live arrangements sound great (although there's a bit too much reverb on Brett's voice), and the track selection is wide and varied, doing a good job of covering the first 3 discs. If anything, the live versions of the songs sound a bit *too* much like the studio versions which is a good and bad thing, really. But the real kicker here are the tracks of banter and anecdotes between Brett and Ronnie. They run the gamut from poignant to the downright hilarious, and are almost worth the price of the disc alone.

If you're new to the Handsome Family, this disc is a great introduction if you don't want to pick one particular studio album beforehand. While there's not much from their most recent album "Twilight", this live disc does a great job of cherrypicking some choice tracks from their first 3 discs that really give you a great feel for the Handsome Family sound. Lots of reverb, cheap keyboard drumlines, soft floaty organs, and deep accoustic guitar flutter along beneath Brett's sonorous voice singing backwoods death poems. There's really not much else like it today, and it only tenuously fits in the "insurgent country" movement it gets lumped into. Do yourself a favor and check it out.

gotta have their live show
helluva an album. we've always known the sparks were great live and it's so nice to have a clean, mastered album that captures a sort of greatest hits effort of songs as well as hilarious rennie on stage. and brett's voice is so powerful. great record, love it. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Solo un reflejo de el principe en Vivo
Aunque no es un gran album, los fan lo encontrarán excelente pues es una muestra de un gran artista en vivo. Un verdadero principe de la salsa que esperemos no deje de salsear por explorar otros caminos. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

A Cheaper Alternative To Paying Collector's Prices
This 1997 release presents a concert from the early 80s featuring Nile with the same band with which he recorded his first two albums - Clay Barnes, Peter Hofmann, Jay Dee Daugherty & Fred Smith. Those first two albums ("Willie Nile" from 1980 and "Golden Down" from 1981) are long out of print and extremely hard to come by - I see someone is currently offering a used copy of the first album through Amazon for about five times the original retail price! Since both studio albums had an almost live sound anyway, "Live In Central Park" will do a pretty decent job of satisfying the cravings of Willie Nile fans who cannot find, or cannot afford, the rare studio CDs. The live CD is also out of print, but it's far easier to locate, and it probably won't cost you an arm and a leg when you do find it. It will especially appeal to fans of the debut album, as it includes 9 of the debut's 12 songs. If you're more into "Golden Down", you won't find this as satisfactory, as it contains only 3 songs from that album. If you are one of the few people that actually do own both of the first two albums on CD, I'd say the live album is nice addition to the collection, but not really essential. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

One of the best folk singers alive.
I first saw Barbara Kessler open up for the Indigo Gilrs. Since then I have become a huge fan and have seen her in concert nine times...Barbara is one of the best folk singers alive - if you're missing her, you're missing out. If you like the Indigo Girls, Dar Williams, Patty Larkin, Beth Wood, Jonatha Brooke or Jennifer Kimball - you'll love Barbara. "Deep Country", "Happy With You" and "Mary Tyler Moore" are my favorites... if she's in your area PLEASE check her out - you won't be disappointed. Barbara rocks - I adore her! I actually own two copies of this - one on cd and one on tape... you can never have enough Barbara. ... Read more