Rating: 
Summary: good old days, forever gone
Review: If there are indeed good old days in music, forever gone, they must be the days of Jim Croce. There is still good music making nowadays, no doubt, but the simplicity, intimacy and above all warmth of Jim Croce's songs is sadly a thing of the past.
Although I have long been listening to Jim Croce, this DVD offers my first "live" experience with Jim on stage. What an experience!
Rating:
Summary: Gem
Review: In a word, my friends, this DVD is a gem! It's really good. Also, the 50th anniversary double CD has several excellent songs I hadn't heard before.
This musical Gnome concludes that it deserves an extra, sixth star!
Rating: 
Summary: A Nice Tribute
Review: Jim Croce was my idol. I learned fingerstyle guitar listening to his album "You Don't Mess Around With Jim" over 30 years ago. When I heard the news of his death I was devestated. I was like Don McLean in American Pie when he talked about the day the music died, referring to Buddy Holly's plane crash. I had all of Jim's albums, including the one with Ingrid. I knew all of his songs. I made it a point to watch every time he was on TV (Midnight Special, Tonight Show, Helen Reddy Show, In Concert ... ) After he died I discovered that he had performed 100 miles away from where I lived the night before the crash. I've been kicking myself ever since because I never got to see him perform live. Now 30 years later, thanks to Ingrid and A.J., I am able to watch Jim and Maury perform some of their hits in remarkably high quality video on this new DVD. In addition I have learned much about Jim's background from the interviews with Ingrid, Randy Matthews, Loggins & Messina, and A.J. For example, I never knew that Jim and Cheech Marin were planning on making a movie together. That would have been great. The audio and video are surprisingly good considering that they are from the early 70s. Numerous photos and home movie clips are worked into the video with voiceovers by Ingrid and A.J. to add context. One track that I really enjoyed presented Jim (sans mustache) and Ingrid doing one of their songs (Spin, Spin, Spin) in a TV taping from the late 60s. A.J. tends to ramble a bit in his narration over the special feature videos. Also, I would have enjoyed seeing a short segment with Ingrid and A.J. as they look today. You never see their faces on the DVD. Being a big Croce fan, there are things I remember that weren't included in this DVD. Cashman & West (Jim's college friends who helped him get his recording deal with ABC) did an interview after Jim died where they recalled their days with him. Jim was turned down by numerous labels because he sounded too much like James Taylor (another great example of how the recording industry is full of morons). Then there was the intro (I think it was on the Midnight Special) where Jim introduced Speedball Tucker by telling a story of pulling his rig into a truck stop and trying to look cool by leaning up against it after he got out, only to burn his hand on the white hot chrome muffler. These would have been great additions. Maybe in a future version some of these additions can be included. In the meantime I can't imagine any true Jim Croce fan passing this one up.
Rating:
Summary: A Nice Tribute
Review: Jim Croce was my idol. I learned fingerstyle guitar listening to his album "You Don't Mess Around With Jim" over 30 years ago. When I heard the news of his death I was devestated. I was like Don McLean in American Pie when he talked about the day the music died, referring to Buddy Holly's plane crash. I had all of Jim's albums, including the one with Ingrid. I knew all of his songs. I made it a point to watch every time he was on TV (Midnight Special, Tonight Show, Helen Reddy Show, In Concert ... ) After he died I discovered that he had performed 100 miles away from where I lived the night before the crash. I've been kicking myself ever since because I never got to see him perform live. Now 30 years later, thanks to Ingrid and A.J., I am able to watch Jim and Maury perform some of their hits in remarkably high quality video on this new DVD. In addition I have learned much about Jim's background from the interviews with Ingrid, Randy Matthews, Loggins & Messina, and A.J. For example, I never knew that Jim and Cheech Marin were planning on making a movie together. That would have been great. The audio and video are surprisingly good considering that they are from the early 70s. Numerous photos and home movie clips are worked into the video with voiceovers by Ingrid and A.J. to add context. One track that I really enjoyed presented Jim (sans mustache) and Ingrid doing one of their songs (Spin, Spin, Spin) in a TV taping from the late 60s. A.J. tends to ramble a bit in his narration over the special feature videos. Also, I would have enjoyed seeing a short segment with Ingrid and A.J. as they look today. You never see their faces on the DVD. Being a big Croce fan, there are things I remember that weren't included in this DVD. Cashman & West (Jim's college friends who helped him get his recording deal with ABC) did an interview after Jim died where they recalled their days with him. Jim was turned down by numerous labels because he sounded too much like James Taylor (another great example of how the recording industry is full of morons). Then there was the intro (I think it was on the Midnight Special) where Jim introduced Speedball Tucker by telling a story of pulling his rig into a truck stop and trying to look cool by leaning up against it after he got out, only to burn his hand on the white hot chrome muffler. These would have been great additions. Maybe in a future version some of these additions can be included. In the meantime I can't imagine any true Jim Croce fan passing this one up.
Rating:
Summary: Part of my collection
Review: Lets face it - if you're a Jim Croce fan you have to have this DVD as it contains the only available footage of him.
The songs on the DVD speak for themselves.
The only thing they should do differently is make the interviews with AJ and Ingrid special features on their own and not just an audio track on top of photograph footage.
I thought the photo montage of him and his young family was incredibly sad. I couldn't help feeling for young AJ
Rating:
Summary: This DVD represents my time in a bottle.
Review: Like Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and Jimi Hendrix, a great guy died too young !!! Wish he was with us and let's try to imagine what should his music be. I am an ameteur guitarist and, like you do, know exactly how beautiful and wonderful his music is. His trademark is using of the major-seventh chords.
The sound of this DVD is very fantastic. If your system is good enough, you can realize difference between sound of the Ovation Custom Legend guitar and that of the Martin D-28 Mr. Croce had used in that DVD. He also used Gibson guitar too. No matter the '70 era sound, buy and enjoy that DVD or it is probably out of stock. That DVD is released under very good quality. The only one thing I concern is that that disc does not show how Mr. Croce performed my favourite songs, "Photograph and Memories" and "Time in a bottle". Probably he didn't contain those songs in his recital program. Anyway, that DVD is the only way I can visually approach him.
Rating: 
Summary: An average dvd
Review: Music gets 4 stars and visuals 2 stars for an overall rating of 3 stars. I prefer his music on CD without the visuals given that it is so dated from the early 1970's.
Rating:
Summary: Jim Croce lives!
Review: The long-awaited "video document" of Jim Croce is out and it delivers the goods. On the DVD are many wonderful, intimate clips of Jim and his guitarist Maury Muehleisen performing Jim's greatest hits, gathered from television broadcasts. These clips haven't been seen publicly since the early 70s and the experience of seeing Jim and Maury "alive" thirty years after they died is absolutely incredible. One absolutely unforgettable moment in the clip of "Workin' at the Car Wash Blues" is when Jim and Maury end the song and then stand before the television camera smiling at each other just before fadeout, neither man knowing the fate awaiting them. There is no sense of doom or impending tragedy on this DVD, just a celebration of Jim Croce and his music by those who loved him most. Each clip is presented apparently complete and unedited as they were originally shown. Jim's widow Ingrid offers commentary (along with Producer Nick Redman) on a separate audio track during the main feature, and son A.J. Croce does the same during the special features. This DVD is an absolute must for any Jim Croce fan. To view it is to see the man live right before your very eyes.
Rating:
Summary: Bright Star Still Burning
Review: There are three things about Jim Croce that I remeber in my life. The first is his song "Bad Leroy Brown" which came out when I was very young. I remember hearing it on the radio and really thinking it was funny, but loving it just the same. The next was having the unbelievable opportunity of meeting his widow Ingrid in San Diego at her shop "Croce's" in the Downtown Mall. I talked with her at length about Jim and could see in her eyes how much he was loved. He was not just a great singer/songwriter he was also a good man, a loving and devoted husband and father. I walked away from that conversation feeling lucky I had the chance to get a first hand account of possibly the greatest of singer/songwriters. Then I got this DVD. I am in awe. What modesty and simple poise in such a great talent. Simple yet refined, with a poetry that was rarely matched by any talent before or since. If you love "Time in a Bottle", "Photographs and Memories", or the funny and lighthearted "Leroy Brown" you will need, not want, this DVD. Jim, you live on in the hearts, and ears of all of your fans.
Rating:
Summary: Jim Croce lives again!
Review: This DVD consists mainly of live (not lip-synched) television performances of his hits. The instrumentation is sparse, just Jim and a second guitar player. This lets the intricate folky and bluesy elements of his music to come to the fore. Jim also introduces a number of the songs with stories about how they were written. He comes across as a sincere person able to see the humor in other people's idiosyncracies and gently poke fun at them. Any fan of Jim Croce will want to add this to their collection.
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