Willie Nelson and Friends - Outlaws & Angels

Rating:
Summary: CLASSIC LINE UP DOES'NT EQUAL CLASSIC PERFORMANCES!!
Review: A Stellar Lineup w/DYLAN, KEITH RICHARDS, AL GREEN is what sold me on this Disc. I figured why pick up the CD for $12 when I could get a DVD with VIDEO, better sound than CD AND Bonus Tracks (The BOB DYLAN number's not even on the CD...Now I know Why!)for $3 or $4 more. Unfortunately many of the performances by those mentioned above are throwaway cuts. Dylan and Nelson both seem disinterested in their tune, alternating with mumbling and guessing at the lyrics. There's little spark in AL GREEN's
vocals while he's distracting himself by PRETENDING to play the guitar he's holding. KEITH RICHARD tries to get in a couple of decent licks in the old Blues Standard TROUBLE IN MIND only to be shut out by a geriatric JERRY LEE LEWIS flailing away.

Better served are the duets with the ladies. LUCINDA & WILLIE's version of Lucinda's smokey Ballad OVERTIME is one of the highlights as are tracks by SHELBY LYNNE and RICKIE LEE JONES.
Do yourself a favor and start the Disc about midway around Willie's duets w/TOOTS HIBBERTS from the reggae band TOOTS & THE MAYTALS. The second half of this disc is stronger by far.
Also, while the sound isnt bad (5.1 Dolby Digital AND DTS) the crack back-up band is buried in the background of the mix.

Also the introductions of the Guest Artists by some disembodied voice from Backstage that sounds like the announcer
from the Hollywood Squares (this show was Broadcast on cable TV first in a Truncated version) get real old / real quick!!

A bit of a dissapointment. You might fare better by spending your
Pesos on Willie's new Studio album IT ALWAYS WILL BE.

Rating:
Summary: The new, not the old, gives this DVD a 3/5
Review: I agree with RobbyDee. I viewed and taped the TV special, then bought the CD. The most exciting event of the entire special was Willie with Los Lonely Boys on Cisco Kid. Willie seemed to take much pride in his adopted sons and was emotional in his intros. of them. Clearly, there was something about performng with LLB that energized him, to which the audience was very receptive. I taped over the lst half of the Special on my VHS tape, and I wish I could do the same with the CD. The first half was just plain out-right dull. Not even Willie was getting into it. Bob Dylan? It doesn't become Willie at all to try to slow down to that style of music, loosely named. I looked forward to Al Green, expecting to hear the Green sound that put him on the map, such as Let's Stay Together. Instead, I felt as if I were in a day-long, gospel-shouting, countryside church service. Yes, I agree the duets with the girls gave the show a better side. The entire Jerry Lee, Keith R., and Kid Rock interlude was surreal. Does Jerry Lee have Altzeimers? And what is with this saturation of Kid Rock into country music, which is being shoved down everyone's throat? Yep--best part: Willie with Los Lonely Boys. 2nd was the classic On the Road ending, where Willie signaled for LLB to stand directly behind him and even moved aside to allow for better coverage of them. Clearly, Willie enjoyed himself most when the young vibrancy of LLB surrounded him.

I will buy the DVD, even though I have the CD, simply and only because I want to have Los Lonely Boys and Willie performing together, when they all 4 are having the time of their lives.