Live Albums Archives - chimesfreedom

John Denver Concert One of my favorite live albums is An Evening With John Denver. Denver recorded the double album on August 26 through September 1, 1974 at the Universal Amphitheatre in Los Angeles during a time when his career was soaring. The album reveals an artist confident in his choices before a crowd hanging on every note. Additionally, the album also has special meaning for me.

In the early 1970s, we saw and heard John Denver everywhere. In 1971, he scored a hit with “Take Me Home, Country Roads.” In 1972, he released “Rocky Mountain High,” followed by four number one hits in 1974-75 (“Sunshine on My Shoulders,” “Annie’s Song,” “Thank God I’m a Country Boy,” and “I’m Sorry”).

Denver also was beginning an acting career, including an appearance on McCloud in 1973. In 1975, he won the Entertainer of the Year Country Music Association Award.

The Television Special

An Evening With John Denver appeared as a television special, winning the 1974-75 Emmy for Outstanding Special, Comedy-Variety or Music. Watching the show now on YouTube, I’m reminded that there were of course additional parts of the show that do not appear on the double album, like appearances by Jacques Cousteau and Danny Kaye.

The special begins with Denver flying an airplane by himself. It would be the same way he would die decades later in 1997.

“An Evening With John Denver” Through the Years

Denver continued to record and tour until his death. And I would periodically listen to new music from him, but those amazing successful years in the 1970s must have had a special resonance for him. He gave joy to a lot of people in those years, including me.

Sometimes it is hard for a reviewer to separate a personal connection from the objective perspective. And that is especially true when I think of this album, which remains one of my favorite live albums. Yet, I cannot say whether or not it objectively is one of the best. All I know is what the album means to me.

Although the album was recorded during the summer months, it remains a winter album for me. Denver released the album in February of 1975. And my mom bought me the album at a local five-and-dime store during that especially snowy Ohio winter. I listened to An Evening With John Denver repeatedly through several school snow days.

Since then, I have periodically returned to An Evening With John Denver throughout my life. Changing technology has altered the ways I’ve listened to it. The album is among the few I have saved in LP form, but I subsequently owned cassette, CD, and MP3 forms of the album too. Later versions added some additional bonus recordings, but for the most part, the recording is still the same for me.

Now, listening to An Evening With John Denver as it streams from my uploaded collection on Google Play, I cannot help thinking back to the first times I played the record in a warm house as the winter winds blew. In it, there remains something comforting for me, like a cup of hot chocolate after shoveling snow.

All of the people who lived in that house where I first played the album are gone except for me. But I am listening to Denver sing now in my own house this winter, looking out the window at the snow while my wonderful wife is downstairs. And I cannot help but think of the thread between that winter in 1975 and now.

One of the powers of music is the connections it brings us — and the way it can bring us home.

What is your favorite live album? Leave your two cents in the comments.

With Glowing Hearts: “O Holy Night” By John Denver

Duet of the Day: Cass Elliot and John Denver “Leaving on a Jet Plane”

Charlie Rich Sets Fire to CMA Entertainer of the Year Announcement

The First Farm Aid

John Denver’s First Number One Song

The Music Is You, John Denver

(Some related Chimesfreedom posts.)

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On January 12, 1963, Sam Cooke performed in downtown Miami at the Harlem Square Club. The club was full of Cooke’s fans, and Cooke delivered one of the great live performances. The show also resulted in the album Live at the Harlem Square Club, 1963.

In his detailed biography of Sam Cooke, Dream Boogie: The Triumph of Sam Cooke, Peter Guralnick described the Harlem Square Club as “a big barn of a building.” He noted that the show was early in the tour when Cooke performed at the Harlem Square Club. That night, the show included a late performance that went from 1 a.m. to 4 a.m. (p. 453.)

Cooke used his live gospel background for his rousing performance, which contrasted with many of his pop hits played on radio. Guralnick writes, “There was nothing soft, measured, or polite about the Sam Cooke you saw at the Harlem Square Club.”

The performance, however, was too much for the record company. RCA believed that the album would not attract the mainstream audience it wanted for Cooke. So the record was shelved and not released until 1985, long after the young singer’s tragic death in December 1964.

The album is among my top few favorite albums, live or otherwise. Cooke’s performance of “Bring It On Home to Me” on the album jumps off the CD. His voice makes you feel like you were there on that January Miami night, as you ride through the slow 2-minute-plus build up to the release of the opening notes of the chorus.

NPR has an interesting interview with Greg Geller, the record executive who rediscovered the tapes of the show in 1985. But the best thing to do to mark the anniversary is to put on the album, close your eyes, and let Sam Cooke take you back to a time when you believed that music could not only change your life but could transform your soul.

What is your favorite track on “Live at the Harlem Square Club”? Leave your two cents in the comments.