Disco de Guy Clark: “Keepers”

Imagine John Wayne with a guitar ... conveying toughness, pride, humor, and above all, integrity without having to raise his voice and rarely changing the pace of his words. That is the kind of talent and charisma Guy Clark possesses. His guitar playing is wonderfully intricate and his lyrics rank with anyone else's best. Slices of life like "Texas 1947" and "Desperados Waiting For A Train" perfectly convey the feel of those little Texas towns a few miles south or north of any main highway.

The best thing about this record has to be the way it's recorded. Anyone with a half decent hi-fi system will love it just for that.

The small band Guy has gathered for this recording are as tight as can be and even Guy himself stays in control of his fingers...

Great versions of Heartbreak, Texas Cookin' and Home Grown Tomatoes. He's at his best when you can hear the smile on his face. She Ain't Goin' Nowhere is a classic Guy Clark song too. I'm less enthusiastic about some of the slower "moody" songs like Desperadoes (I can never understand the popularity of this one) and he misses out songs from Boats to Build - my favourite album. All in all though, a fine effort.

One of life's greatest joys is a Guy Clark performance. Though I left Nashville shortly before the one recorded here, I listened to Mr. Clark play every dive in town for 20 years, sometimes sick, sometimes overly fortified with alcohol, and he was always the consummate showman. As such, the idea of a live recording was very appealing to me. The result, however, is a little disappointing.

The songs are indeed mostly keepers, and the track listing is typical of a Guy Clark set list. It relies heavily on his first album, with half the tracks coming from Old No. 1, and then a song or two from subsequent albums of the late 1970s and early 1980s. Some, like "Heartbroke", are pleasant surprises I've never heard him perform live. I tend to be a little more sanguine about Mr. Clark's post-1975 oeuvre than he seems to be based on his shows and on this CD though - I think he's written a lot of other "keepers" that are conspicuously absent here, some from the "Old Friends", "Boats to Build", and "Dublin Blues" recordings that were released before the concert presented here, and that usually find their way into his sets.

It is the performances that disappoint in the end, though, not the choice of songs. The songs are mostly tried and true classics. Guy Clark may or may not tire of singing his first album for 30 years, but he has remarkable stage presence and can play "Desperadoes Waiting for a Train" a thousand times and make me misty every time. In general, though, the vocal performances are better on the original recordings. There is something to be said for re-recording many of these songs using the acoustic sound found on Clark's CDs from "Old Friends" onward, or perhaps in the simple guitar and bass form often used in his performances. The electric instrumentation used on some of his older albums has left some of his best material sounding dated. But here, with Mr. Clark not hitting some of the notes, sometimes off-key, most of the time I felt I'd be better off just pulling out Old No. 1. Or that he'd have been better off re-recording the "keepers" in the studio. There are some fine moments here. Texas Cookin', though recorded perfectly well in the studio, is a fine performance, and I can't help but smile at Mr. Clark, Jr. on bass doing the riff from Hendrix's "Third Stone From the Sun" near the song's end.

In short, the songs are keepers but the performances aren't. I have every Guy Clark CD ever made, and I listen to several of them fairly regularly. He is a personal hero in the world of music, and in his corner of this genre, I'll say something he'd disagree with - I think his work far eclipses that of Townes Van Zandt. But this CD has been in my CD player only twice over the years, once when I first bought it and was disappointed, and once today when I was disappointed again. The only good reasons to have this CD are to have a complete Guy Clark collection or to remember this particular concert if you were there.

Recently introduced to Guy Clark and now a HUGE fan. His lyrics are the best; a true "storyteller". The songs are both fun and thoughtful. Loved it!

I don't usually recommend live performance recordings but this is the exception! I can see why the boys in Santa Fe chose this as recording of the month. This is great music, written with a heart. If you have a high resolution audio system get in the "sweet spot" and listen. The soundstage is wide and deep with room between the performers. For that matter get off the couch and walk out through the audience and shake hands. This is Texas story telling at its best. Its easy to understand why Mr.Clark is so well respected among his peers. Love, those Home Grown Tomatoes!!!