Live Des Moines, Iowa 4/29/84

dougl · #1 03-13-2022, 10:35 PM

Macfan4life · #2 03-14-2022, 04:26 AM

Oh wow. You just made my day. Best concert of my life. I always loved the echo effect on The Smile That I Live For. The recording does not do it justice. To hear it live in a theater took the song to another level. Fantastic versions of Spare Me A Little and Crazy Love. Just everything is superb!

A rocking version of One In A Million with Chris at the center microphone. Then she jets to the grand piano and belts out Hold Me. OMG incredible. Her live version is better than the 1982 live Mac version and is even better than Buck/Vie. You just need Lindsey on vocals.

A rocking Too Much Is Not Enough too. This is also the first tour/concerts of making Dont Stop a closer. The Mac used to play it early in the set prior to 1984.

**jbrownsjr** · #3 03-15-2022, 07:23 AM

Wow!! Thank you so much for this.

Smile I Live For is amazing. Especially with the echoes. This band is really tight. And yes, the Hold Me is better here than with Lindsey.
Dare I say, Todd Sharp's solo is stunning on Smile I Live For. That's how you do it.

aleuzzi · #4 03-15-2022, 10:07 PM

Well, this is just smashing good! In very fine vocal form. She sounds better here than on the 1984 record. And the band is hot as hell. For me, I was especially pleased with the energy everyone brought to “The Challenge” (which, on the album, underwhelmed me); the return to the 1972 arrangement of “Spare Me,” though sung with superior skill; the sexiness she brought to “Ask Anybody”; and the group’s spirited version of “Too Much” (which elsewhere has sounded bland to me). This was a great show and I wish I’d been there. The audience clearly loves her. She delivers here what Robert Christgau said of her self-titled album in general: pert, up-tempo songs that will keep you humming, and an unimpeachable sense of the sensible. But more than that, the group sounds like a genuine band. Thanks for unearthing!

On Ice · #5 03-16-2022, 08:35 AM

My formal request for a clean up and remaster of this treasure. She is at the top of her game here- obviously inspired by a committed and masterful band, she is in amazing voice and equipped with a stellar set list. Every single song is a highlight. Thanks for this find!

Macfan4life · #6 03-16-2022, 11:59 AM

One reason the live versions of these songs sound so good is that Chris got to use the same musicians on her album and tour. George Hawkins, Todd Sharpe, and Steve Ferrone, etc. Steve is one of the best drummers in the bizz. He provides that extra crack boom on The Smile I Live For.

I have the Jackson NJ show on CD that I found on Ebay about 17 years ago. One of my prized possessions. It sounds professionally recorded. Chris is so funny too because she was playing Great Adventures Amusement park but did not know the name of the town. You have to hear her banter with the audience about it. Its hysterical. Then she dedicates Songbird to them because about a week before the concert, several teenagers died at a fun house fire at the park.
Now you know why I say this was probably the best concert in my life.