Monday, December 17, 2012

Hey Mike (and the rest of you), I saw the Lennie show a couple of weeks ago as well.   I thought it was absolutely remarkable how he sustained hismelf throughout - it's no joke at 78.   He was a very professional performer which I didn't expect for some reason - at times to the detriment of the connection with the audience, as some of the between-song banter sounded pretty canned (and corny).  

My overall reaction (and rating if you will) was very positive but not completely glowing, because I have a strong preference for LC's earlier work (first four records in particular), and he's apparently not really able (or willing) to pull that material off, as it's mostly sung in quite a different (higher, not surprisingly) register  He did play three or four songs from that era (notably Suzanne and So Long Maryanne) but with the strength of the material from that period, I would have liked to hear more.   I find his work since about 1980 to be somewhat monotonous musically, though always enhanced by such depth of lyric that one often doesn't notice.  However when you play six or seven of that era (the second half of his carer, say) in a row, they all sound much the same, and so in a way expose the formulaic side of his songwriting.

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