Al Stewart Album: “Live at the Roxy L.A. 1981”

Throughout the pop era Al Stewart has always been overlooked by mainstream audiences. Admittedly, his mystical sometimes bizarre lyric content is not what you typically find on radio. Yet with critical acclaim, Al Stewart has never been received enthusiastically by the mainstream. "Live at the Roxy" shows why he should be. This album was originally released as "Indian Summer Live" in 1981. It stood out at the time because of it's intimate "club atmoshere" when other artists were trying to capture the "arena energy". Al Stewart is a live musician. His work is best performed in front of an an audience versus in a studio. Live at the Roxy should be a standard for other live albums. The musicianship is impecable, including guitarist Peter White. The recording sounds as if it was recorded in the late 90s versus the early 80s. I am sure you are familiar with Year Of The Cat and Time Passages. These songs take major steps forward when performed on this album. Do not overlook the other tracks such as Running Man and On The Border. This re-release is long overdue. This is a live concert that you can lose yourself in. It creates a "you are there" feeling. Isn't that what live albums are supposed to do? Other artists desiring to record a live album should take note of AL STEWART LIVE AT THE ROXY.

Riding the wave of popularity in America following "Year of the Cat", Live at the Roxy was Al's last stand in America. His next release was three years away, but luckily, Live at the Roxy gave listeners a lot for their money. This album captures Al at the peak with Shot in the Dark and Peter White backing him. This album brings all his best to his fans along with great asides and songs lost in the glare of "Cat" fame. Here too is "Rihad" and a look at Al's great talent as a story teller par excellance!

(The orignal double album included one studio side of great songs -- these are now available as special additions to 24 K/Parrots.)

Like the editorial review says, Live at the Roxy comprises the live tracks from the three-quarters live Indian Summer LP. If you want the studio tracks from Indian Summer on CD, you have two choices, and they're both 24 Carrots. The U.S. Razor and Tie edition of 24 Carrots gives you three bonus tracks ("Indian Summer," "Pandora" and "Here in Angola"), while the U.K. EMI release has all five (adding "Delia's Gone and ""Princss Olivia"). Unfortunately, both versions of 24 Carrots are long out of print and can get pretty pricey.

Al Stewart recorded some truly great studio albums during the 1970s, but he was and is at his best live. And Live at the Roxy contains excellent live versions of all of Al Stewart's commercial hits plus a few others that didn't get played on the radio, but are nonetheless fine songs. The quality of the recordings is excellent and the performances are very lively and tend to surpass the original studio versions. "Running Man," "Soho (Needless to Say)," and "Roads to Moscow" are real standouts in this area.

The only flaw in this otherwise impeccable album is "Clarence Frogman Henry," which is a bit of a shaggy dog story that gives a bit of the flavor of the between-songs banter at Stewart's concerts, but unlike the songs, once you've heard it once, it ceases to be of any interest. But it's short and easy to skip, and the rest of the album is superb.

This is a must-have for all Al fans. The quality of the recording is excellent, almost studio-like, crisp and clean, but distinct from the studio recordings.

This was originally a double viynl album with the title INDIAN SUMMER with a previous review mentioned other tracks on 24 carrots.i presumed this was ommitted for time retraints reasons .My favourite live song is the epic Nostradamus which runs for 13 mins .Superb mastering on every song make this a five star and in my opinion these live songs are even better than the original.in my opinion one of the all time great live albums.Mr Stewart is a excellent electric guitar player hear time passages especially with his telecaster playing . His song writing his second to none.I hope one day he might tour australia.His year of the cat lp was a huge seller.All his cd with various re-ssues are superbly done.anyone hearing him for the first time should get this live album then his studios albums

simon macdonald

sydney australia.