Townes Van Zandt - A Gentle Evening with Townes Van Zandt

His studio albums were tricky affairs generally cursed with overproduction, but Townes Van Zandt's solo live recordings (and his influential songwriting) have made him a Texas music legend. A Gentle Evening with Townes Van Zandt captures the enigmatic performer alone at a 1969 Carnegie Hall concert, sounding a little tentative but still cracking the occasional joke. His set list consists of material from his first two albums, including classics "Tecumseh Valley," "Like a Summer's Thursday," and "She Came and She Touched Me." "Talking KKK Blues," heard here for the first time on record, bears a striking resemblance to the songwriter's "Fraternity Blues" and shows Van Zandt's biting wit. Since the definitive Townes Van Zandt concert document, Live at the Old Quarter, remains out of print, this single CD will serve the late Texan's legion of fans well. Aptly titled, it's a subdued affair, but it's still essential for anyone who wants to hear the performer in his youthful prime. --Jason Verlinde Amazon.com

A glimpse into genius...

This CD is striking in so many ways....1969...the height of "flower power" and political turmoil over the war....the "Summer of Love"...and along comes a soft spoken Texan with nothing but his mind, heart and guitar to elevate us and to show us a higher truth. Certainly Our Mother the Mountain, The Old Quarter etc. are Townes' masterworks but this one shows a purity, sparseness and "less is more" than even The Old Quarter. This is my favorite Townes album, only a few songs, but maybe its better that way..his picking is precise and rhytmic but not clinical......his voice at age 26 (?)is strong, controlled and has a tinge of bittersweet at times...the sound is wonderful...of course the songs themselves are timeless and pure genius in my opinion...the imagery of "She Came and She Touched me" is nothing short of magical, the lilt of "Like a Summer Thursday" is like a snowflake dancing on a breeze. Tecumseh valley of course, needs no comment. I think this is the best version. Man Townes, what a gift you had and gave to us...God bless you... February 13, 2007

Lives up to the title...

This CD may not contain Townes Van Zandt's best known material, but taken in the context of when this performance was recorded the song selection makes sense. Townes was 25 when this was recorded at Carnegie Hall and hadn't written many of his most famous songs yet, therefore other reviewer's complaints that he didn't play "Pancho and Lefty" can be dismissed as ludicrous. If Townes hadn't written the songs yet, he couldn't have included them in his set (!). The previously unreleased "Talking KKK Blues" is Townes at his spoken blues best. The sound on this CD is phenomenal and what is striking is the way he projected in a concert hall like Carnegie Hall. I guess this struck me because I'm so used to hearing his live recordings in tiny dives like the Old Quarter in Texas or McCabe's guitar shop in California. Townes' voice was in top form and his guitar skills were also top notch during this time period, and while his song selection for this gig was his more subdued material I don't find this to be negative. This recording was lost in the shuffle between record labels but now that its been released it serves as a valuable document of Townes' early years and his budding genius. Despite the fact that the songs here could be classified as rarities, I would go so far as to say that this would be a good introduction to Townes Van Zandt's music. His humor and personality shine throughout the performance and it is refreshing to hear him at the peak of his powers. April 18, 2006

An interesting rarity, but not essential for casual fans...

This 1969 half-hour concert in NYC gives the young Townes a showcase for early work. He sings eight of his own compositions, two of them in the "talking blues style." He tells a joke. And he concludes with a movingly performed rendition of Peter LaFarge's "Ballad of Ira Hayes." While Townes' version of this famous story/song is not quite as good as LaFarge's own, or Johnny Cash's hit single, it has a quiet power. In fact, the concert suffers most from the fact that Van Zandt's song choices are all mellow. He probably had not yet written his livelier songs, such as "Two Hands" or "To Live is to Fly" or "No Lonesome Tune" or "If I Needed You" or "Rex's Blues." None of those are rockers, but each is a bit quicker than the material on "A Gentle Evening." As a picture of Townes' early in his career, this is a good product, with good sound quality. As a folk/country listening experience, it's a bit uneven, a bit too gentle, somewhat dated, and yet a bit too short to be worth the price. A better value is "High, Low and Inbetween" which also includes a second LP from the '70's, "Late Great Townes Van Zandt" (He became "late" on New Year's Day, 1997, so the title is satirical.) As to WHEN Van Zandt became "great" opinions differ, but that he WAS a "great" songwriter, most serious singer/songwriter fans are in agreement. On this release, by the way, he is in fine voice, better than on his later records, in my opinion. July 8, 2005

A Gentle Evening with TownesVZ

If you want to listen to some early TVZ live you will enjoy this album. It's almost like a boot leg with his talkin' in between his songs. TVZ at his best and not apparently wasted on the wind. May 21, 2002

Beautiful

This is my 3rd TVZ live album (others: Rear View Mirror, Live at McCabes) and it is very very good. Compared to the others that I have heard the two things very different about this album is that one, it is a very very young TVZ (25 year old) and secondly the large audience. A typical TVZ concert usually were to small audiences. My only complaint is that he sings only 6 of his "songs", the rest being a joke, talking blues and a cover.
All in all, an excellent album. And now I can't wait for the release of the mythical Live at the Old Quarter April 26, 2002

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